Someone To Lean On
by Nehkles
Summary: Vetra's life has never been easy. When she first learned about the Andromeda Initiative, she saw it as a fresh start. But when they arrive, things quickly go from bad to worse. After months in Heleus, there isn't much hope to go around. But Vetra knows that all it takes is one Pathfinder to fix everything. She just never imagined he'd be the one to make the whole trip worth it.
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

Her eyes opened to darkness, save for the dim orange glow radiating off her left arm. The alarm on her omni-tool was doing exactly what it was meant to do - annoying the hell out of her, and getting her up and moving. Sleeping in unfortunately wasn't an option.

Not that Vetra didn't have _any_ time to waste. The turian had long ago figured out a work schedule that gave her some leeway in the morning. With luck, she wouldn't have to report to Kesh for another ten, maybe fifteen minutes.

With a groan she deactivated her alarm and let out a yawn, letting her mandibles stretch. Turning on the small sunlamps in her "apartment" was another annoyance, but it certainly encouraged her to get out of bed a little bit more. With a push of another button on her omni-tool the lights came on, causing her eyes to squint and adjust to the brightness. Although, Vetra could already tell they weren't as bright as usual. It seemed like the lights were getting dimmer all the time.

She couldn't blame them for wanting to save power. The Nexus wasn't designed to run entirely on it's own, let alone for an extended duration without supplies. They'd expected to have at least one ark show up by now, but after fourteen months in Heleus they hadn't heard from a single one, not even the turian ark.

It was a wonder the station was still holding itself together.

Vetra shook her head to clear her thoughts - two minutes had passed while she reminisced, and she needed to get moving. Any second she wasn't on the job was a second where something could go wrong, and Vetra would be damned if she had come this far to watch everything fall apart now.

Getting dressed and having a bite of a leftover ration bar from the night before took another five minutes. Would've only taken four, but her boots had really been uncooperative lately. Seems they didn't like getting snapped into place like they used to, but maybe that was to be expected from six hundred year old clothes.

Lucky for her, even if she was late Vetra doubted the Nexus leadership would actually do anything about it. Kesh probably wouldn't even bring it up. But again, any second she wasn't on the job…

The walk to the tram wouldn't take long. Forty-five seconds, less if she booked it past cryo, and even fewer if she didn't take a slight detour to bang on Sid's door once or twice as she walked by (which she always did.)

The Nexus was dark - as usual - save for the occasional dim lamp which lit the pathway. The station had giant sunlamps that would simulate a real sky and sunlight when fully powered, but those hadn't been on since the revolt started

The tram had the usual faces; James from engineering, Lenana from maintenance, Tallin from security, and a few others all trying to keep this station running. Most of the conversation was short, just a simple "hey" or a head nod - fourteen months of increasing desperation had a way of squashing the desire for small talk. A couple of humans bringing food from hydroponics were talking about rumors that an ark had crashed into a planet at hyperspeed, though they couldn't decide if it was Turian or Asari.

 _Just rumors._ Vetra thought. Of course, nobody really knew what had happened to all them. Maybe they were just running behind. Maybe they had a problem mid-trip and were drifting hulks in the middle of darkspace. Maybe they ran into the scourge like the Nexus.

Or maybe they were all about to make contact in the next thirty seconds and bring everyone presents and food that didn't taste like a varren's ass. Unlikely, but Vetra had to hope that at least one of the arks was still out there.

If only they had even just one ark, one Pathfinder … then maybe they could maybe fix everything that had gone wrong.

She was the first one off the tram when it arrived at Operations, and made a brisk pace towards Kesh's office.

Checking her omni-tool while she walked, she saw that construction on additional generators was being delayed: not enough supplies in stock for anyone to work with. Maybe she could re-route a few supplies from less essential areas to help get things up and running.

Walking into Kesh's office, she spotted the krogan at her desk, browsing her omni-tool. Most likely looking through the same reports Vetra herself had been reading just a moment ago.

Kesh's eyes darted up at the turian before turning her attention back to her omni-tool.

"Good. You're here." Kesh said. "Looks like those extra generators can't be built until we can find more supplies."

"I know, I was just reading the same thing. Any ideas?" Vetra asked.

"Well, you know the top priority is always keeping the station running. No power means we all go belly up in a hurry. For now, go see if anyone has any spare materials lying around. There's bound to be something we can use."

 _An easy job._ Vetra thought as she gave Kesh a nod and walked out of her office. All she had to do was contact the folks in charge of the operations where materials were being taken and make sure they sent all they could spare to help with the generators. Easy enough, and certainly easier than her work before her and Sid joined the Initiative. The living conditions weren't all that much better. Cleaner, certainly, but food was less available and each of them needed to be on the job more often.

A ping popped up on her omni-tool.

 _This is engineer Bailey. Got eyes on a ship down in cargo, manifest calls it the "Tempest". She's got supplies on board that could help keep power running for months. Requesting permission to commence scrapping operations._

The turian let out a sigh.

 _Third one this week. When will those idiots get it…_ she thought.

She quickly responded with a "Request: Denied", feeling a small tinge of satisfaction as she hit send. While almost everyone else onboard seemed content with stripping the ship down, Vetra knew that it would be needed eventually. Sooner or later, _someone_ had to get out there and start making things right again.

Sooner or later, a Pathfinder would need that ship.

Once Kesh ran out of thing for her to do, Vetra decided to start the other part of her job:

The Exchange.

It's not really a surprise on such a big station, but people brought _a lot_ of stuff from home. Most stuff was marked for the Initiative - primarily basic supplies needed to make sure the station could continue to function. But almost every would-be colonist brought as many personal items as the Initiative would allow them to.

This was where Vetra's skills came into play. It doesn't matter what galaxy you're in: _everyone_ wants something. It's just a matter of who they are, and what they're willing to exchange for what they need.

So on her off time, Vetra would scour the station making deals ...

Walking out into the lower operation section, it wasn't long before she overheard a salarian complaining to a turian that worked in rations distribution.

 _As good a place to start as any._

"Please, I'm begging you! He just needs one, maybe two more rations bars a day and he'll be fine!" the salarian said to the turian, his mandible twitching in a sign of annoyance.

"I told you, sir. We can't afford to give out any more rations. We need to make sure we can last on our own as long as possible." he told the salarian. The argument between the two continued on as Vetra fiddled with her omni-tool, trying her best to act like she wasn't listening.

"For the last time. We can't give you any more. I'm sorry, but I have to make sure everyone on the station is getting their fair share of food." the turian said as he began to walk towards the tram.

"But Hurann isn't getting enough!" the salarian yelled, but the turian just kept on walking.

"Hey." Vetra said once the other turian was out of earshot, and the salarian quickly turned to look at her. "Couldn't help but overhear your problem. Got some trouble with your rations?"

"Yes, yes! Finally someone is willing to listen to me!" the salarian said, letting out a sigh. "My brother has a rare condition that requires him to have a slightly higher calorie intake than the average salarian. If he doesn't get enough food, he won't be able to work as hard, and he might even get sick!"

"Hmm, I see. Well, I can't get you any more rations on my own, but… maybe we could make a trade for something else." Vetra said.

"Something else? Like what?" the salarian asked.

"Depends on what you brought to Andromeda."

The salarian nodded his head, seeming to understand what Vetra was getting at. He took a moment to think, rubbing his chin before giving her an answer.

"Well… I brought a pistol with me in my storage compartment. Carnifex, never been fired before. Nobody knew what we were going to find at the time, so I thought why not?"

"A Carnifex, huh? Hmm… You know, I always wanted one of those. But I don't think your brother can eat any dextro rations, can he?."

"No… I suppose not..." the salarian said, lowering his head slightly.

"But you know, maybe I can make a deal with someone else, try to get your brother a few extra bars every now and then. Stay right here, I'll see if I can find you a decent trade."

The salarian let out a sudden smile and nodded before taking a seat on one of the nearby benches while Vetra pulled up her omni-tool and started looking through her contacts to see what was new from her contacts.

 _Let's see… Kesh wants a bottle of ryncol. Good luck with that one… Kelinna's still looking for that one asari mural. Gonna need to do a bit more research on that one… Martin's sister is looking for a few photos of Earth, apparently feeling a little homesick. Is that so?_

As luck would have it, Vetra had made a trade just last week where she got terabytes worth of photos and vids of various Council planets in exchange for moving someone's mom further up the list on the cryo release schedule. She had been feeling rather homesick herself, and knew that someone else would be feeling the same at some point.

She quickly found the girl's information and called her. With luck, this could be wrapped up fairly easily.

"Hello?" A female voice said from Vetra's omni-tool.

"Callista, right? I understand you've been feeling a bit homesick lately."

"Um, well… yeah. Who is this exactly?" Callista asked.

"Name's Vetra. I work closely with Superintendent Kesh. Anyway, I heard about your problem and remembered I had a few terabytes worth of photos and vids from back home."

"What? Any of Earth?" she asked.

"I can remember a few dozen off the top of my head, yeah." Vetra replied.

"Oh my… please let me- I mean, can I maybe have them?" she asked timidly.

"Well, that depends… You wouldn't happen to be willing to part with one or two of your ration bars every now and then, would you?"

"Uh… no not at all! I haven't been eating very much since I got out of cryo. It's been… rough."

"I understand, Callista. It's been rough, but we're all gonna get through this eventually." Vetra said.

"Thanks. So… wait. Why does a turian need levo rations bars?"

"Oh, they're not for me. A friend of mine want's a few extra. I prefer no allergic reactions when I eat my food, you know?" Vetra said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess… So, can I get those vids?" she asked.

Vetra let out a huff of air as she away at her omni-tool, sending all the data her way.

"Of course. Pleasure doing business with you, Callista."

"Thank you so much!" she yelled in excitement before Vetra closed the call. She seemed like a good kid.

So in the end, the salarian got his rations, Vetra got her gun, and the human girl got to enjoy six hundred year old vids of places 2 million light years away. Everybody walked away happy.

Most of the time, these trades ended with Vetra trading things from person to person, but every now and then someone had something that could be really valuable to the Initiative, something Vetra always kept an eye out for..

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, until she finally managed to get another break, which for Vetra meant heading back to her room and making sure the station was going to last through the month.

The numbers weren't looking good. Sure, everyone could at least survive for now, but supplies were getting smaller and smaller. They could delay things a few more months if need be, but there was no doubt in her mind; if they stayed like this, the entire Initiative was done for.

Sometimes, Vetra wondered why she even brought Sid here in the first place. It's not every day you ask your sister,"Hey kiddo, how'd you like to go to another galaxy?" but at the time it seemed like a great plan. An opportunity to get away from everything back home, a fresh start.

Now she was wondering if she'd made the right call. There wasn't much reason to call their current predicament living. Surviving was more accurate.

She heard another ping.

 _To: Vetra Nyx_

 _From: Superintendent Nakmor Kesh_

 _Vetra,_

 _Tann has been hounding me to get him reports on our medical supplies. Say's it's of "urgent concern." Everything's always urgent with that damned salarian. Get me a report within the hour. Maybe longer, just to piss off Tann a little._

 _-Kesh_

She let out a chuckle as she began typing her reply.

 _To: Superintendent Nakmor Kesh_

 _From: Vetra Nyx_

 _Was just looking at the reports now, Kesh. I'll send them with this message. Estimates on how long they'll last are up from last week, so it shouldn't be an immediate concern._

 _-V_

 _P.S. How about we send him a report on our supply of graxen just for fun? He'll probably freak out for a second before he realizes he's getting worked up over an extreme shortage of turian snacks._

After hitting send, it was right back to digging through those reports before another message from Kesh came through.

 _To: Vetra Nyx_

 _From: Superintendent Nakmor Kesh_

 _Ha! I bet that'll work him up real good. Between him and the malfunctions coming from docking control, I've almost had it. Hell, just a minute ago the control system started the ark docking procedures out of nowhere. Damned scourge. Things would be a whole lot easier around here if that space cloud hadn't popped up out of nowhere._

 _-Kesh._

As nice as it would've been to actually have an ark show up, Vetra knew better than to get her hopes up. The scourge did a number on a lot of equipment when the Nexus first hit Heleus, and this certainly wasn't the first time a non-existent ark requested permission to dock.

Again, the thought of why she even came to Andromeda popped into her head. Did she really need to go to another galaxy just to get a fresh start? If she'd worked hard enough for a few years she probably could've found a nice spot somewhere deep in either Council or Alliance space where she could keep Sid safe.

Of course, that ship had long since sailed.

Keeping Sid safe was turning out to be a challenge. Sure, it was a hell of a lot safer than that week they'd stayed on Omega, but at least there had been ways to get out of that hellhole. Here? They had nowhere else to go, unless they fancied making nice with the Exiles. And from what she'd been hearing from her contacts, 'unsafe' would be an understatement.

Trying to actually settle planets of their own has been put on hold after what happened on Eos; whole outposts swallowed by gale force winds in that radioactive wasteland. And as far as anyone on the Nexus could tell, all seven golden worlds had been a bust.

There was nowhere else to run. They had to make this work. The alternative was… not even worth thinking about.

She noted the time. Her break would last for another half hour, but Vetra knew full well she wasn't going to use it. Might as well head back to Kesh, or maybe see if Kandros or Addision needed anything.

Before she was about to head out, she notice a sudden burst of comm chatter, mainly coming out of Operations. Seems something had a lot of them spooked. She tuned into one of the frequencies, hoping that it wasn't anything serious like a Kett attack.

"Are you sure? We've had malfunctions like this before." she heard Addison ask.

"I'm sure, Ma'am. Docking clamps are locked and in place. I think we've found an ark." another human said.

"Finally. Hyperion, is it? If anyone can help fix this mess, it's Alec. Is anyone going to meet our new arrivals?"

"Already on my way, Addison." Kandros said. "I'll get the Pathfinder to you as soon as possible."

Vetra couldn't believe it. Was this really happening? An ark was finally showing up after all this time?

This changed everything! They'd have more food, water, materials to keep the Nexus running, and not to mention the additional power boost from the ark. With the Nexus stable, they could finally focus on getting more outposts started, and keeping them up. And with a Pathfinder here, who knows what-

 _A Pathfinder._ She thought.

 _They're going to need a ship._


	2. Chapter 2: Pathfinder

Vetra could hardly contain her excitement as she made sure the Tempest was ready for the human Pathfinder. She wanted to get all the necessary checks out of the way as soon as possible. The sooner the Pathfinder was out and about in Heleus, the sooner this mess could start to be fixed.

She had already pulled his file from the databanks, and - now that she had just finished up most of the work she had to do on the Tempest - she thought it would be a good time to get a little insight on exactly who humanity's Pathfinder really was.

Scott Ryder. Twenty one years old, (or six hundred and forty five if you count the time in cryosleep) Born on Earth to Alec and Ellen Ryder, along with his twin sister Sara.

His father was a former N7 operative and the original human Pathfinder, but apparently something went wrong on Habitat 7, and now the position belonged to Scott. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. He came all this way just to have his dad die as soon as he arrived.

As far as Scott's combat experience went, he seemed more than adequate. He had Alliance training, and had spent most of his military career guarding the Charon relay. Not only that, but he was also a biotic, equipped with a L5n implant. Word on the Nexus was that he'd already put it to good use on Habitat 7 against the Kett.

The only thing that really concerned Vetra about the Pathfinder was his father, Alec. He was apparently one of the first humans to go through the Charon relay, which lead to the Relay 314 Incident between the humans and the turians. Vetra didn't hold any grudges from way back then - she hadn't even been born yet! But anyone that fought or lived through the war - human or turian - often harbored some lingering resentment for their former enemy.

As a veteran Alec may have had some less than favorable views of turians. Vetra knew it was unlikely, considering he had agreed to help lead a multi-species initiative to another galaxy, but she'd dealt with a few bitter humans in her time before coming to Andromeda (and more than a few bitter turians). It wasn't impossible that the former Pathfinder may have passed some of his "resentments" onto his kids.

Vetra shook her head. There was no point worrying about this when she hadn't even _met_ the new Pathfinder yet. Her primary concern had to be getting the Tempest space-worthy. She could worry about Ryder's opinion of her species later.

The turian took a look at the Tempest readiness checklist on her datapad, making sure the crew wasn't going to miss anything before they tried to take flight.

"Gil, is that drive core gonna be ready for the Pathfinder?" Vetra asked, waiting for a response on comms.

"Absolutely. With me working this baby, you'll have nothing to worry about." the human engineer replied a moment later.

"That's what I like to hear." she replied before switching to another channel. "Suvi, you and Kallo have everything you need up there?"

"Mostly, yes. Just need a few more small things, but we should get those once we pick up the Pathfinder." came Suvi's reply.

"Good. Let me know if you need anything else." Vetra said, before she quickly checked her own equipment to make sure _she_ wasn't forgetting anything either.

 _Let's see… Guns: check. Armor: check. Enough thermal clips to supply a small army: check. A crate full of dextro-amino Blast-oh's: check, check, check._

She may have made a pretty big gamble, moving into the Tempest like this - Spirits knew, Tann would have her head if he found out - but Vetra knew for a fact that she could keep everyone on the ship at their best. She'd spent months keeping the Tempest from being scrapped for parts, and it wasn't like the Pathfinder couldn't use an extra gun at his side every now and again.

While Vetra continued going over inventory, her omni-tool started pinging her once again. She was quick to recognize the call from the Pathfinder's second in command, Lieutenant Cora Harper, who's been in contact with Vetra ever since the Hyperion was officially plugged into the Nexus

"Pathfinder en route. How's the ship?" the human asked.

"In final checks and looking great. Should be ready at the docks in around five minutes, give or take." Vetra replied.

"Good. We won't be long." was all Cora said before ending the call, causing Vetra to get on the ship-wide voice channel.

"Heads up: the Pathfinder's on his way, so let's not keep him waiting, people. We've all had to do enough of that already. Kallo, we clear to move yet?" she asked.

"Just about. We just need Gil to finish up his checks on the drive core." the salarian pilot responded.

"You just worry about steering this thing, Kallo, and let me handle things back here." Gil said.

"It would just be a little more reassuring if my ship's engineer would actually tell me if we're going to explode if I try to take off or not." Kallo grumbled, "You still haven't told me what those 'modifications' to the drive core were, exactly." Vetra rolled her eyes. What was it with those two?

"Oh, we're fine, don't you worry. Just trying to make things look spiffy for the Pathfinder."

"What? Why didn't you say any-"

"Save it, Kallo." Vetra interrupted. "If Gil says we're good, then we're good. Let's just get moving."

A sigh escaped Kallo on the other end of the comms. "Alright. Requesting permission to take off… granted. We're to proceed to landing pad 5-B."

 _Finally._ Vetra thought. It had only been a few hours since ark Hyperion first arrived, but since then she's been dying to get off this station as fast as possible. The sooner the Pathfinder got out in Heleus, the better.

As far as what their assignment would be, Vetra could only guess. If it was up to her, she'd be heading to Eos to see about making things more livable. Knowing Kesh, that would probably be what she'd suggest they do as well, but that decision would ultimately be up to Addison, the director of colonial affairs.

In truth, as long as they were actually getting out and _doing_ something to help the Nexus survive, it'd be fine by her. And who knew? Maybe they'd get lucky and find a golden world that their scans hadn't picked up yet.

Moving out of the armory and into the cargo bay, Vetra realized the only thing she could do for the time being was to wait for the Pathfinder to arrive and to pick up the remaining equipment and supplies. A few minutes later, Kallo announced over comms that they were approaching the LZ.

 _Let's just get this done quick, before someone in leadership finds a reason to keep us here for another two hours._

Vetra was moving before the cargo bay doors had even fully opened, walking down the ramp just as the ship finally came to a complete halt. She could see a few dock workers approaching the ship along with the remaining supplies. Eyeing what they had, she guessed that they could get all of it onboard in at least two or three trips, so long as she helped them.

Once most of the crates had been brought onboard and just a few boxes of rations were all that was left, Vetra was really starting to feel impatient. She could practically sense that someone was going to stop them from leaving.

"Let's pick it up a bit, people! We're fourteen months late!" She yelled, grabbing one of the boxes and rushing it back into the cargo bay. When she turned around to make sure they had everything onboard, she noticed two humans approaching the ship. The female she recognized as Lieutenant Harper, thanks to a vid-call between the two of them earlier. The male walking next to her, well that could only be the Pathfinder.

He had light skin, almost the same tone as Harper's. Brown hair on his head, along with a small amount of that facial hair that human males seemed to grow. She could tell that he was mesmerized by the Tempest, his eyes moving up and down the underside of the ship as they walked.

 _Alright, Vetra. Work your charm. Show the Pathfinder that you're gonna be valuable._

She started her descent down the ship's ramp, the two humans still too busy admiring the ship to notice her walking towards them. Once she was about halfway down, she decided to speak up.

"So you're the one that's making everything happen." Vetra said, catching the attention of the Pathfinder and Lieutenant Harper. "Vetra. Vetra Nyx. Initiative wrangler, provisioner, gunner, and everything in between. You must be the Pathfinder."

"Yeah, that's me. Scott Ryder." he said, giving her a warm smile.

"Well, it's good you're here. We can finally start to fix things out here." Vetra said, before turning to look at Harper. "Good to finally meet you, Lieutenant."

"Likewise, Ms. Nyx." she replied.

"Ha! Nobody calls me that, Vetra is fine." Vetra laughed, "So, are we ready? The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"You're coming with us?" Ryder asked. His tone was curious not hostile, Vetra noted.

"Yes, otherwise there's no way they're letting this ship off the station." she told him.

"Really? What's the rush?"

Vetra turned back to the ramp, looking over her shoulder at the two humans behind her.

"Just don't want to waste any more time." she replied, starting her ascent back to the Tempest. With luck, they'd be out of here before-

"Hold it, Hold it! You're not going anywhere." called a voice from behind her.

"Damn it." Vetra mumbled to herself before turning around.

"Is something wrong?" Ryder asked.

Vetra recognized the human keeping them from boarding the ship. He worked in colonial affairs, name's Ben or something like that. If she had to guess, he was probably here to make sure they weren't taking more supplies than Addison authorized. Vetra groaned inwardly; this shouldn't even be an issue in the first place. After all, nobody else was going out to try and find good places to build outposts.

"Director Addison wants to see a complete report on the Tempest's supplies, munitions, and crew." the worker said.

"Didn't Director Tann overrule Addision?" Ryder asked.

 _Good_. Vetra thought. _He seems to want to get out of here just as much as I do._

"This ship is loaded out with equipment for outpost discovery - which falls purely under Director Addison's purview." the worker continued, while Vetra moved towards him, giving Ryder a subtle "let me handle this" look as she passed him.

"I've seen you around ... Ben, right?" she said, grabbing him gently by the shoulder and gesturing him to follow her.

"Yeah. What is it?" he asked as they walked, his tone a strange combination of annoyed and curious.

 _Time to lay on the charm._

"Came here with a family, didn't you? Son still in cryo? I could pull a few strings, get him to the front of the line." she said, giving his arm a small nudge as they stopped walking.

"Really?" The human asked with no small amount of hopefulness in his voice.

"Yeah. Really." Vetra could tell he was going to take the deal. One of the most common complaints on the Nexus was that someone still had family in cryo they wanted to see. She remembered overhearing Ben complaining about it to a coworker one time, and had made a mental note of it just in case it came in handy one day.

"They told me he wasn't essential… but I miss him."

"I know. I got family too, Ben." Vetra also knew for a fact that if Sid were still in cryosleep, she'd be doing all she could to get her out as soon as possible.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Ben finally relented. He raised his datapad and finalized his report, clearing them for departure.

"It's done." he sighed. "Addison's gonna kill me."

"Don't worry. You won't regret this." Vetra said, turning back to face Ryder and Harper.

"Nicely done." Ryder said. It felt nice to already have some words of admiration from a Pathfinder, even if he was a rookie. It made her more confident that he'd keep her on the team. Maybe she could start to do some actual good, now.

"Part of the job, Pathfinder. All things considered, it was easy ask." she said as nonchalantly as she could, starting her way up the ramp once again. "And right now you need people tearing down obstacles, not putting up more."

She could hear the two humans following her not too far behind, noting a bit of praise coming from Harper about how it was good to have "someone who cares about actually doing stuff and not just talking about it." Good. Now the second in command saw value in her too.

The turian made a quick note to herself as she entered the cargo bay.

 _Contact Kaas in cryo before we leave._

 _And then get out there and start making Heleus a home._


	3. Chapter 3: Explanations

"Really? You couldn't find me a _single_ job on the Tempest? I would've taken 'bathroom attendant' so long as it got me off the Nexus. I want to help!" Sid said, the discord in her subharmonics clearly showing that she was upset with her older sister.

Vetra let out a sigh and muted her end of the vidcall. She knew that Sid wanted to get out and help with anything she could, but there were far too many unknowns about Heleus for someone without experience to head away from the station.

"Sid, I told you it's dangerous out here. You'll be much safer back on the Nexus." Vetra said after unmuting the call.

"So you get to be with the Pathfinder, and I have to watch a radio all day?" Sid asked.

"Hey, it's either the radio, or help Kesh with cleanup." Vetra replied. The groan that came out of Sid prompted Vetra's mandibles to flex into the turian equivalent of a smile.

Suddenly, she heard the door to the armory behind her open up, and turned around in her chair to see the Pathfinder standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey, Pathfinder." she said. Ryder gave her a small smile and a nod before there was a gasp from Sid.

"The Pathfinder's there? Let me say hi!" The irritation that was present in her voice earlier vanished, subsumed wholly by unabashed excitement. Vetra wasn't surprised; everyone on the Nexus saw the arrival of a Pathfinder as a sign of good times to come, herself included.

"Fine. But don't embarrass me." Vetra turned her head, looking briefly at Ryder over her shoulder. "Ryder, this is Sid, my sister. Sid, Ryder"

"Hi!" Sid quickly said before the Pathfinder could respond.

"Nice to meet you, Sid." he said before turning to Vetra. "Let me guess. Little sister?"

"Who are you calling little?" Sid suddenly blurted out.

 _And there goes your one and only chance, Sid._

"Look, kiddo. Gotta go." Vetra quickly said before her sister could embarrass herself any further.

"Wait! Ryder, I just wanted to know if-" Sid began before Vetra ended the call. No doubt Sid would be pissed about that later on, but Vetra wouldn't be an older sister if she didn't get Sid a little upset every now and then.

"Ouch. Abusing your older sibling privileges?" Ryder joked, earning a chuckle from Vetra.

"Well, pretty sure that's part of the job." she replied, turning her chair to face him.

"Right. Remind me never to introduce you to Sara. Only a minute older and she's never let me forget it."

"Wouldn't want her getting any pointers, would we?" she jested, resulting in more chuckles from Ryder.

 _Alright, enough jokes, Vetra. Now's a good time to explain to him why you're here in the first place._

"So, I know it feels like I just jumped aboard your ship without an explanation…"

"Don't worry about it." Ryder interrupted, now leaning against one of the weapons lockers. "After hearing what you guys have gone through over the months, I would've done the same thing just to get off the Nexus."

"That's not why I came. Sure, I want to explore the galaxy, but I'm really here to work. You're the only person right now that's actually doing something to make Heleus livable. You need the best working with you."

"The best, eh? I've already seen your "negotiating" skills. What else can you bring to the table?"

"Well, if you ever need to find someone on the Nexus, odds are I can track 'em down. You ever need lead hurled down range or someone to draw fire, I'm the one to ask. Plus, I already know everyone on the crew. Even the actuators Gil prefers for the ship. Better, I know how to get my hands on them. With me around, your crew's going to be at their best."

"Everyone on the crew? Even Liam and Cora? Don't tell me the three of you have been keeping secrets from me now..." Ryder asked.

"What? Well, I… we haven't really talked all that much, but I'm sure there'll be time soon to-"

The chuckle coming from Ryder stopped her mid sentence, and for a second she wondered what exactly she did.

"Relax, Vetra. I was only joking. You clearly seem to know your way around things." he said.

"Right… Sorry, it's just… You're the only one in the Initiative that's taken any, well, _initiative_ to fix things. We've been failing for months, Ryder. Now that we have you, we have a chance out here."

"Wow, that's some laser focus." he said, moving away from the weapons locker. Vetra couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the compliment.

"Yeah? Was it too much? Some people get intimidated." she said.

"Oh, I see why they would. We need that sort of drive. I just hope I can keep up."

"You'll keep up. And don't worry. I promise not to tell if you don't."

"Good. Can you imagine the headlines on the Nexus? 'Human Pathfinder humiliated by ambitious turian!' I'd never live it down."

They each began laughing at that one. So far, Ryder had seemed alright, and she could definitely appreciate someone who could joke around every now and then.

"You know… you're not exactly what I was expecting, Ryder." Vetra said.

"Oh?" he responded.

"It's just that… with who your father is- sorry, _was_ , I was expecting someone a bit more… serious." she said, mentally scolding herself for mentioning his father.

"Yeah, Dad always said I needed to be more professional at times. But what's the point in acting so serious when you're meeting someone new? It's like eating only the skin of an apple, you'll never get down to the core."

Vetra raised one of her brow plates. She didn't quite understand what he was getting at. Was he making another joke, or-

"Sorry" he blurted. "Bad analogy."

"No, it's fine. I think I see what you're getting at. It's like an altaki, right? Hard shell with a soft, sweet inside."

 _Oh… that might sound a little weird..._

"Uhh… sure, close enough. Anyway, I didn't come down here to get an explanation on your being here. Just wanted to get to know my crew. I've talked to Kallo, Suvi, Gil, and I already know Liam and Cora … kinda. Only one left was you."

"Oh. Well, alright then. Take a seat. What do you want to know?" she asked, sitting back down in her chair while Ryder sat on the table across the room.

"I'll just ask you what I asked everyone else. Why'd you come to Andromeda?"

 _Yeah, Vetra. Go ahead and tell him about the all the people back home that wanted your head. That'll really get him on your good side…_

"Short answer: I heard about it from Kesh. She was looking for some experimental ship mods, and I knew how to track them down. I thought it was a one time deal, but then she came back. Once. Twice. Eventually I figured out something was going on. Something big, with creds behind it. All I had to do was ask, and she told me about the Initiative. New galaxy, new home - couldn't pass that up."

"So that's why then? Just saw the chance to find something new and took it? I get that. A whole lot of people came here for a fresh start. Now it's up to us to give it to them."

Vetra really liked that thought. So long as the Pathfinder had optimism, then the entire crew would have optimism.

"Damn right. So what's the plan, anyway?" Vetra asked. "We gonna go fix things on Eos, or does Nexus leadership have other plans?"

"Eos. We're to investigate what happened, and see about setting up another outpost." he said.

"Good. After hearing what happened down there, we owe it to those colonists to make things work."

"Right… what _did_ happen down there, anyway?" Ryder asked.

"Better question would be what _didn't_ happen. Sandstorms, radiation, Kett attacks, you name it. Poor bastards weren't prepared for what was waiting for them."

"Well, don't worry. We're finally gonna start making things right."

"Glad to hear it, Pathfinder."

A brief silence passed between them, with Vetra pondering how to continue the conversation. Despite the fact that they've only known each others for a little over an hour now, she still quite enjoyed talking to him. She actually felt a little silly, thinking that he might dislike her just because she was a turian.

"Alright, well you probably have work to do. I'll let you get back to it, and we can chat more later." Ryder said, standing up and making his way towards the door, before stopping briefly to turn to Vetra. "Also, make sure to be ready in when we land on Eos. I want everyone on the ground, just in case."

"Sure thing, Pathfinder." Vetra said, earning a huff from Ryder.

"And, please, at the very least call me Ryder. It just feels weird having nobody call me by my actual name."

Another huff came from Vetra. She found it kind of odd, but also kind of nice having the captain of the ship be quite casual.

"Can do… _Pathfinder."_ Vetra teased.

Ryder raised an eyebrow at her as he stepped out, pausing in the doorway.

"You know, Vetra … You weren't what I was expecting either." Ryder said with a warm smile before turning and letting the door close behind him.

Vetra turned back to face her terminal, her mandibles once again stretching into a small turian grin. She turned her attention back to her terminal to check her messages.

She had one from Kesh confirming her transfer to the Tempest, one from Kaas informing Vetra about Ben's son, and one _very_ angry message from her little sister.


	4. Chapter 4: Prodromos

_We did it. We really did it._ Vetra thought, leaning up against the railing to one of the prefab structures. She couldn't believe they'd actually managed to get another outpost going in such a short amount of time. Ryder was already proving to be one hell of a Pathfinder.

The outpost in question, Prodromos, was still under construction around her, with around half of the prefabs already built. In a matter of hours, this place would be a new home for dozens, maybe even hundreds of had no idea what the word Prodromos meant - some human name apparently - but to her it meant hope. A clear sign that Heleus was their home now, and they were here to stay.

Of course, one outpost wasn't going to fix all the Initiative's problems. It'd buy them time, sure, but they'd need to set up more if they ever wanted to get everyone out of cryo.

Setting up an outpost on one planet was easy, especially when there was a rather convenient alien atmosphere processor to terraform the place for you. But setting up _multiple_ outposts on different planets was going to be another story. Still, judging from the navpoint Ryder had found inside that vault, there could be more vaults out there somewhere.

The thought alone was enough to excite Vetra. More worlds that could support life. She just hoped that one of those worlds would support dextro-based life.

As for Eos, the radiation levels had already started to drop thanks to the vault. Unfortunately, there was no way to know when levels would drop low enough to be safe, so the Initiative set up some shield masts around the perimeter to keep it out of the outpost.

For the first time in a _long_ time, Vetra felt like they actually had a chance in Andromeda. Not only to survive, but thrive. And she was far from alone, if the exuberant reactions of both the Tempest crew and the first wave of colonists were indicative.

 _Maybe I should start looking for that lamp soon..._

"Hey, Vetra," the turian suddenly heard to her left, looking over to see Ryder in his usual white and blue Initiative armor walking towards her.

"Hey yourself, Ryder." the turian replied as Ryder moved up and leaned on the same railing as Vetra.

"So, what're you up to?" he asked.

"Ah, you know. Just taking in the sights. Still can't believe we've gotten this much done. We've been away from the Nexus for not even a week, and already we've got a new outpost set up."

"What? You didn't think I'd do a good job?" He said, nudging her elbow with his.

"No, I just didn't think we'd get an outpost up this fast. I was expecting us to secure any functional equipment from Promise and Resilience, then spend at least a week surveying for possible settlement sites, testing the soil, measuring radiation levels, all that fun stuff. I _wasn't_ expecting ancient alien terraformers, atmo processors, gravity wells, and life-destroying murder-bubbles." She said with a laugh. "We really had _no_ idea what Heleus was about, did we?"

"Well if we knew what it was about, then it wouldn't be an adventure." Ryder said with a broad smile. "It would just be moving. And everyone hates moving … just the packing alone is ... ugh."

Vetra let out a chuckle. "Ha! Good point."

They were each silent for a moment, watching a couple of human construction workers looking over the plans for one of the prefab buildings before Vetra broke the silence.

"So, how'd your little meeting with Addison go? Knowing her, I'd guess she'd chew you out for not getting this done faster."

"Nope. No chewing." Ryder said. "She said that Nexus leadership is ready to officially sanction my efforts. To 'be a part of my success' as she put it."

"Wow. You show up and fix everything, and they take the credit. Real nice to be appreciated, isn't it?"

Ryder waved his hand dismissively.

"Bah, I'm not looking for fame or glory. Just trying get everyone a home, do right by everybody."

Vetra felt a small smile creep onto her face as she stole a glance at the human. Too many people - asari, turian, salarian, it didn't matter - would be trying to use the status of Pathfinder as a way to get things they want: money, power, or whatever else they could get their hands on. But Ryder knew what his job was: give everyone on the Nexus a nice piece of solid ground where they can be safe and let them do the rest. Vetra couldn't help but admire Ryder's humility.

"Well like it or not, fame is gonna come your way after this. I'd be ready for that if I were you." Vetra stated.

"Oh boy. Can't wait to see what kind of dirt the tabloids try to bring up on me."

Vetra chuckled. "Pretty sure we left those back in the Milky Way. Still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to find some kind of spokesperson, make it easier on yourself when some crazy lady trying to get famous claims she's having your child or something."

"Oh god, that'll be the day. Think many lawyers came to Andromeda?" Ryder asked.

"Have you met Tann?" Vetra laughed, "But seriously, you might want to find someone who knows their legal precedents."

Another quiet moment passed as they each watched one of the construction vehicles drive past carrying what looked like a stack of walls to the prefabs still under construction. Before long, a ping came from Vetra's omni-tool.

"What's up?" Ryder asked.

"Oh, just a message from Sid… Seems they opened up a bar on the Nexus after hearing about Eos." Vetra glanced up from her tool to look back at Ryder. "See? Things are already improving back there. I mean, Sid's not old enough to drink yet, but she's still excited about it."

"I suppose everyone needs a place they can relax."

"Yeah, but I'd watch yourself if I were you. That hypothetical crazy lady I talked about? Guaranteed you meet her there." Vetra joked.

"Noted." Ryder chuckled. "And maybe I could use my apparent fame to score the squad a few rounds of drinks?"

"Now you're talking." she said, quickly turning her head as a particularly loud sound came from one of the construction vehicles.

"So tell me." Ryder began. "Do you have anyone else here with you? Besides Sid?"

"No, just me and Sid. It's always been just the two of us."

"Really? No other family, friends, special someone?" he asked.

 _Special? Oh, he means like…_ ** _Oh_ **_._

She let out a small laugh. "No, nothing like that. Who has time these days? What about you?"

"Nope. Not for the last…" he began, counting numbers on his fingers. "...Six hundred and thirty one years or so." he said, earning a snort from Vetra.

"Ha! I think I've found the first tabloid headline in Andromeda. 'Scott Ryder: Most Available Man in the Galaxy!' It'll sell like crazy."

"Well, it doesn't matter if you're here or back in the Milky Way, anywhere's gonna feel empty if you don't have someone to share it with."

"Huh." Vetra said. "A romantic. I wasn't expecting that."

Ryder shrugged, giving Vetra a smile and a small laugh.

"What? Aren't hardened men of action supposed to be secretly tormented by their passions?"

"In the vids, sure. I just… I don't know. Guess I never chalked you up as one. Then again, the entire idea of leaving everything you know for a chance at something new is kind of romantic."

Vetra blinked and thought, _Wait ...Did I just say that out loud?_

"Um… anyway…" she said, quickly trying to change the subject before he noticed the change in her subharmonics. Could humans even hear that? Probably not. "Have you heard from Peebee yet? I thought she was gonna be here by now." she said.

"I'm pretty sure she had to pick up a few things up from some of the monoliths. Who knows how long she's been monitoring those things."

"Yeah. Just make sure we don't leave without her. An expert on the Remnant could be useful, and we need every edge we can get." Vetra said.

"I agree. Especially when one of those edges is a krogan."

"Oh, trust me. You're gonna _love_ Drack. Just maybe take it easy on the drinks with him. The bar _just_ opened up, after all, we can't have it shut down already."

They shared a brief laugh before Ryders omni-tool pinged him.

"Welp, looks like Suvi wants to talk to me about gathering some rock samples for her to study. Something about licking them?" Ryder shook his head and laughed. "I'd better go see what she needs. We'll talk later?" he said, slowing moving in the direction of the Tempest.

"Sure thing. Just watch yourself. Suvi takes her, oh what was it… 'bacteria and microfauna' very seriously." Vetra cautioned.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Did you know she wrote a sixty page analysis on dirt?"

"I can ask her to send it to you, if you want some light reading." Vetra joked.

"Oh no need. She already did."


	5. Chapter 5: Celebrations

_What the hell are they doing to the ship down there? Have those guys even worked on anything that isn't a shuttle?_ Vetra thought as she eyed a group of mechanics performing maintenance on the Tempest. She really needed to talk to Kesh to see if there were any mechanics on the station that actually knew their way around a spaceship.

It's a damn shame the quarian ark hadn't shown up yet. It's common knowledge that nobody knew spaceships better than the quarians. As well they should be - three hundred years spent in exodus aboard a rag-tag collection of starships necessitated a lot of talented engineers. They would've worked wonders on the Nexus.

But without the quarians, and with most of the experienced mechanics working on repairs for the Nexus, ships coming into dock got saddled with whoever happened to be available. It wasn't really the engineers' fault that they were having so much trouble working on the Tempest. The ship was one of a kind, no other ship like it in either the Milky Way or Andromeda. Vetra knew she was being irrational - it was better than having no mechanics - but she hadn't spent fourteen months keeping the Tempest from being scrapped just to watch some idiots mess something up now that a Pathfinder had finally arrived.

Her mandibles twitched in annoyance at the sight of a particularly inept human mechanic. He was carrying around spare parts for the thrusters, but it looked like he thought they were for the landing gear.

Vetra quickly brought up her omni-tool and started a call with Gil. Maybe the Tempest's own engineer could show these guys a thing or two.

"Gil, you there?" Vetra asked, still keeping her eye on the Tempest.

"Yeah. What's going on?" he replied.

"Are you nearby the landing pad right now? I think we might need someone down here to show these guys the difference between hydraulic fluid and helium-3."

A chuckle was heard from the other end of the call. "As fun as that sounds, I'm at that new bar right now. Vortex. Ryder managed to get the whole crew a free round, can you believe that?"

"Sure. People were just waiting for something to drink to. I just hope we don't have to drag him back to the ship after. " Vetra said with a small smile.

"You know, you should come on by. I'm pretty sure the Pathfinder was looking for you."

It was a rather tempting offer. Vetra had been enjoying getting to know Ryder over the past few days. She might've even taken up the offer, if one of the workers hadn't just dropped a crate full of omni-gel on the ground.

"I'll pass. You know me. I'm not happy until I'm sure everything's holding itself together." she replied.

"Alright. But just so you know, anything those guys manage to screw up, I'll probably be able to fix before we leave." Gil said before ending the call.

As Vetra watched the engineers try to scoop the omni gel back into its container, she realized Gil did have a point. It's not like those guys could do any damage that couldn't be easily fixed by either Gil or one of the station's head engineers. But ensuring the continued wellbeing of the Tempest was a bit higher on Vetra's priority list than having a few drinks. They'd accomplished so much with the ship already, but there was still much more work to be done.

After several more minutes of Vetra diligently watching the mechanics slave away at the ship, a ping sounded from her omni-tool, and she quickly looked down to see an incoming call from Ryder.

"Hey, Ryder. What's up?" she said, idly wondering why her voice was more cheerful than it had been with Gil earlier.

"Just thought I'd let you know that you were right. Turns out that setting up Prodromos really made me popular around here." he said. Vetra noted some upbeat music in the background as he talked, so he was still most likely in that bar.

"I told you. Nothing makes people like you more than saving their asses."

"Yeah, I can see that. So, Gil says you're out keeping an eye on the ship right now. Is something wrong?" Ryder asked.

She let out a small huff. It was nice that he also seemed somewhat concerned, even when he was out drinking.

"Nah. Just making sure she's parked in the same place we left her."

"Good. Then why don't you come by Vortex? The rest of the crew is already here to celebrate Prodromos' founding. Well, except for Peebee. She just grabbed a bottle of… something and left. You know how she is ... 'been there, done that.'"

"Ha, she's an odd one. But I'm fine, thanks. I've got a ton of other things to look into on the Nexus. Checking in on repairs, making sure hydroponics is growing enough, plus making sure the security is tight. Call me paranoid, but-"

"You're paranoid." Ryder interrupted. "Come on, you're on shore leave! Take a little time to relax every now and then."

Vetra hated to admit it, but she _was_ looking forward to talking more with Ryder, getting to know Liam and Cora, and catching up with Drack.

"Tell you what." he began, interrupting her thoughts. "If you manage to pry yourself away from the ship and come have a drink with us, then I'll get you a glass of turian brandy on the house."

"I'm sorry, is the human Pathfinder trying to bribe me now?" Vetra said with a laugh.

"It's not a bribe, just… encouragement! And it should be noted that Pathfinder is _also_ your captain, so I'd get moving before he _orders_ you to."

"Hmm…" she hummed in an exaggerated way. "Make it a full bottle and you've got yourself a deal."

"Done. See you soon." Ryder said before ending the call.

If Vetra remembered correctly, Vortex had opened up just outside of hydroponics. She began making her way there, fighting the urge to either look back at the Tempest or check her omni-tool for any updates on the station.

 _Just put it in the back of your mind, Vetra. Forget about work and try to relax, like Ryder wanted._

As she approached the entrance to Vortex, she could faintly hear some of the bar's music playing. Stepping inside, she was quick to spot Ryder and Drack sharing a table, while the rest of the crew was scattered elsewhere throughout the bar.

Ryder's eyes were quick to spot her while she walked down the steps leading to the main floor, giving her a warm smile and waving her over to his their table.

"Look who decided to get away from work!" he said, while Vetra and Drack exchanged nods. "One bottle of turian brandy. Per your request." Ryder slid the bottle in front of the table's one open chair, which Vetra was quick occupy.

"Thanks… this isn't coming out of my paycheck, right?" she joked, opening the bottle and taking a quick drink.

"You're getting paid?" Drack asked, seeming genuinely curious. A chuckle escaped from both Ryder and Vetra. "Bah, forget it. Like I was saying Kid, you really showed those Kett on Eos. Where'd you learn to fight like that? I've seen a lot of vanguards in my day, and never saw a human charge into a fight quite like you."

"I trained in the Alliance. Spent a bit of time in a peacekeeping force guarding a mass relay. Not a whole lot of opportunities to put my training to good use, but I managed. Honestly, those fights Eos were some of my first real brawls. Outnumbered, outgunned… but hey! We pulled through, didn't we?"

"Huh. You've got a quad, I'll give ya that." Drack said, chugging some of his drink before pointing at Vetra. "You're just lucky you had this one here to keep 'em off ya. Those damn shields of hers make a great distraction."

"You flatter me Drack, really." The turian joked before taking another drink.

"He's right you know." Ryder said. "Some of those Kett probably would've torn through my barriers if they hadn't been so focused on you. I've never seen a shield modulator like that before. Custom made?"

"Yep. Just the tap of a button and the armor hardens, shields fortify, and anyone that wants me dead get's very frustrated. And also shot at."

"Yeah, I noticed that. You make that turbocharge system all by yourself too?" Ryder asked.

"Uh-huh. Vents any heat from the guns right through the armor. It can get really damn hot when I'm using everything at once, but so long as everything's dead by the time I stop firing, I'm usually fine."

They all stopped the conversation for a moment, each one taking a sip of their respective drinks.

"So, where'd you learn to do all that stuff? Military training? Maybe C-Sec?" Ryder asked.

Vetra couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

"No, no. I never even made it boot camp. Taught myself everything I know."

"Really? Don't all turians serve at some point?"

"Well, yeah. But I…" Vetra said, pausing as she considered how to explain this circumspectly. "I uh … was just concerned with taking care of Sid back then. No time for morning drills when you've got a baby sister to take care of."

The turian gave a small laugh and her best "everything is fine" smile, hoping Ryder wouldn't say anything and she could quickly change the subject.

But Vetra could tell right away that Ryder noticed something. It wasn't that hard to get a read on humans, they tended to have very expressive faces. The way his eyes darted around her, the way his brow furrowed slightly. She began to think of another way to deflect the coming conversation.

"That makes sense. Sid must be real lucky to have you."

Vetra hadn't been expecting that. She was sure that Ryder was going to bring _something_ up. A question about her parents or how she managed to raise Sid, but instead he just dropped it.

"Please." Vetra said, her mandibles extending outwards before moving back in. "I was just doing what any big sister would. And now that I think about it, you really would like Sid, Ryder. She's into a bunch of really old human shit. You know what the hell 'bamboozle' means?"

Ryder let out a chuckle, but Drack began to speak before the Pathfinder could respond.

"That sounds like a hell of a name for a drink. 'The Bamboozler!', haha!" Drack yelled, downing the rest of his drink in a single smooth motion. "Hell, why don't we go make one now? Gotta put all these free drink Ryder's getting to good use."

"I'm game. Vetra, you in?" Ryder asked.

"I'll pass. I prefer to keep my stomach intact, thank you. Besides, don't want to overdo it after all this." she said, lightly shaking the bottle of brandy in her hand. "And please take it easy. I already told Gil I didn't want to have to drag you back to the ship."

"Please. It's not me you'll have to worry about." he said, nodding to the krogan that had already moved over to the bar.

"Do you want me to find a forklift?"


	6. Chapter 6: First Contact

Vetra's eyes opened slowly, still too tired to be able to take in any light. She moved a hand up to cover her eyes. It wasn't very much light: just the dim glow of one of the terminals across the crew quarters. Not the brightest thing ever by any means, but right now it was enough to wake Vetra up.

 _Dammit, Liam. Can't you turn that thing off when you're done with it?_

She carefully got up from her bunk, not wanting to wake any of the other crew that slept there. That only left the crew who didn't sleep in there: Peebee, who for some reason she found the ship's escape pod to be more to her liking. Drack, because he physically couldn't fit inside the bunks. Jaal - their new "escort through angaran space"- who said the beds on board weren't comfortable for him (and she suspected, didn't wholly trust everyone on the ship yet.) And lastly Ryder, because he had his own quarters away from everyone else. So he could turn his own damn lights off.

She moved over to the terminal and shut it off. She'd have to remind Liam for the _fourth time this week_ that light tends to make it hard for people to sleep. Especially turians … grumpy, heavily armed, turians.

Vetra began to make her way back to her own bunk, before a grumble in her stomach stopped her in her tracks.

 _I suppose a quick snack wouldn't hurt._

Vetra passed through the bathroom and out into the hallway, making sure to stay quiet so as to not wake Ryder. Once inside the kitchen, she opened the small cupboard that they had saved specifically for her, since she was the only dextro on board. For now, a simple protein ration bar would do. The thing tasted like plastic, but Vetra just needed something small to help fill her stomach before breakfast, where she could make some real food. Or at least, what qualified as real food in Andromeda.

As Vetra chewed, she checked her omni-tool to re-read the messages she'd gotten from Sid that day. Sid was still complaining about her job, but at least was starting to feel like she was helping in some way. She'd also sent another jab at Vetra for hanging up on her when she was about to ask Ryder a question, but it was more playful than anything. Sid wasn't one to hold a grudge.

Vetra took another bite of her ration bar and yawned. It was going to be a long day tomorrow - not enough hours in the day. She was starting to consider just giving up on getting back to sleep when she heard the door to the kitchen open behind her. She turned to see Ryder standing in the open doorway, hair ruffled, clothes wrinkled, and eyes half laden.

"Oh, hey. I didn't know anyone else was up." he said, moving past her towards the fridge.

"Yeah. Guess my stomach wouldn't let me rest." she replied, pointing to the bar in her other hand.

"Well in that case, you mind some company? I promise not steal any of your ration bars."

"Considering how sick you could get just from one bite, I'd say that's a good idea." Vetra said, grabbing another ration bar and moving to sit at the table. The surface of the table was fairly clear right now - save for the Avenger assault rifle that Drack kept tinkering with - so there was enough room for them to sit on either side and have a good amount of open space in front of them.

"So, what woke you up? Hungry? Bad dream?" she asked.

"No, nothing like that." Ryder said, grabbing some kind of round red fruit from a bowl on the counter. "To be honest, I haven't even fallen asleep yet tonight."

"Really? How come?"

"Can't really say. Guess I just have a lot on my mind."

Vetra could understand that. She'd spent almost all day checking up on reports from the Nexus: status of Hydroponics, updates on which colonists were getting let out of cryo… anything of importance. She'd also looked into the security reports from Prodromos. A few kett scouts had been spotted on the cliffs nearby, but they never attacked. The defense turrets they'd set up made sure of that. In addition, she also kept in touch with all of her contacts, making sure they were getting what they needed. In the course of a single day, Vetra had a lot of things she wanted to make sure were going smoothly.

"I can get that. I've got my own fair share of things to look into every day. What's got you worried?" she asked.

"Sara. After everyone left Vortex I got a message saying I could talk to her."

"You mean she's awake?"

"Eh… kinda. Her SAM implant let me talk to her while she was unconscious. I… had to tell her about Dad." Ryder said, looking down at the fruit and taking a half-hearted bite out of it.

"Oh… how did she take it?"

"Honestly? I don't know… She started to get really stressed out, started thinking it was just a dream. I know I'd be thinking the same thing in her shoes…"

"It's pretty crazy. Can't say I'd be any different." Vetra said.

She finished off the first ration bar and soon began on a second, taking the occasional glance upwards at Ryder from across the table. She wasn't an expert on reading human facial expressions (the lack of mandibles made it really difficult to gauge) but he looked a little… distant. He probably had a lot on his mind: his dad, sister, the fact that he had so much responsibility thrown onto him so suddenly. It couldn't have been easy on him.

"Hey." she said softly. "I know it's been awhile since it happened, but… I'm sorry about your dad."

Ryder glanced up at Vetra, and gave her a small smile.

"Thanks. I can tell you right now, he would've done a hell of a job as Pathfinder."

"What? You think he'd manage to top what you've done in a little over a week? Settling Eos, making first contact with the angara, hunting these vaults. I'd say your old man would be damn proud."

Ryder just smiled again and looked down at the fruit in his hand. Probably trying to stay humble. Or thinking up some terrible joke.

"I guess. But really, he's still the only reason we've made it this far. If he hadn't designed SAM, there'd be no way we'd have gotten into that vault in the first place."

"Fair enough. Still, I doubt he was the one to let you kick so much ass with those biotics of yours."

"Hehe, you can actually thank my Mom for that one. She's practically the only reason humans can use biotics in the first place."

"Oh, I hadn't heard that. Is your mom on the …?" Vetra began to ask, noticing the slight falter in his grin.

"She… passed away not too long before Dad told Sara and I about the Initiative."

"Ah, sorry. I didn't know."

 _Way to go, Vetra. Why don't you bring up a beloved childhood pet next or something?_

"Don't worry about it." he said, giving her a dismissive wave as his grin returned. "I was a little more curious about you, actually."

"Oh? How so?" she asked.

"It's just that… the other day you seemed a little quiet when it came to you and Sid. Is that something you want to talk about?"

"Uh, I just… I don't know. Guess I wanted to make a good first impression or something." Her eyes shot down to the bar in her hand for a second before moving back up at him. "Only get one good shot at one, right?"

"Sure, but I feel like we're well past that point. How many times have we pulled each other out of the fire now? I hope you know you can talk to me about whatever's bugging you."

"Okay, fair enough." Vetra said, mandibles curving into a small smile. She took a quick breath before speaking again.

"Life back home wasn't easy. Mom was obsessed with climbing the ranks, and dad… well, I don't really know what dad did. Whatever it was, it got us kicked off Palaven. I hadn't even gone to boot camp yet. Sid was barely a year old. Dad eventually brought us to a mining colony out in the Minos wasteland. Two years later, he was gone."

"Gone?" Ryder asked. "What about your mom?"

"She never came with. Stayed on Palaven, chose military life over her own family. There was no chance she would've taken us back once dad left. Whatever he did destroyed any chance of that."

"So it was just you and Sid? How did you guys survive on your own?"

"Well, I was barely more than a kid myself, so lots of unskilled work. Construction jobs. No one else would do all the dangerous stuff, so I would. Being up high, crawling under things."

"Jeez. That sounds rough." he said, his voice genuinely empathetic.

"It was for awhile. But, I knew how to shoot a gun, so eventually I moved into smuggling. Even more dangerous, but lucrative. We were never rich, but we got to comfortable."

"Damn. Did you ever find out what happened to your dad?"

"Honestly don't know. Maybe he died, maybe he didn't. We just know he didn't come home. He was involved with some bad things. Bad people. Eventually it caught up with him. There was nowhere to run. Not like a whole new galaxy."

"Is that why you came here?" Ryder asked. Vetra looked away for a brief moment. She was hoping he wouldn't have connected the dots so easily, but she honestly should've expected it by that point. She paused for several seconds before turning back to him.

"When you're young and stupid, you make bad decisions. Piss off the wrong people. That kind of thing never goes away. Not for you, not for the ones you care about… I don't want to not come home one day."

"Come on." Ryder said, getting up from the table and starting to walk slowly over to Vetra. "You're strong, smart. It'll take a lot to keep you from coming home."

She let out a small laugh, appreciating the compliment.

"Strong, smart, but maybe just lucky. Luck runs out on you."

Ryder's hand suddenly reached out, lightly touching her shoulder and almost making her jump.

"I won't." he said, smile genuine, blue eyes looking right at hers.

They stayed like that for several seconds, with Vetra's mandibles extending outwards several times. She could feel a sudden pounding in her chest.

 _Spirits, Vetra, don't just sit here, say something!"_

"Uh… thank you, Ryder. That… means a lot to me."

"Good. It was supposed to." he said, giving her shoulder a small shove before releasing it. "Welp, I should probably try and get at least _some_ sleep. It was nice chatting with you, Vetra." He took another bite of his fruit and began to move towards the door.

"Wait. Ryder?" she said, stopping him in the doorway.

"Yeah?" he replied as he turned to face her.

"I'm… sorry. I hope I didn't come across as… whiny back there."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Everyone needs to vent every now and the."

"I just…" she said, pondering exactly how to put this to. "Could my life have been different? Sure. Could've had a dad, a mom, a rigid upbringing and great prospects in the turian civil service, with the stiff collars and the 'yessirs' to go along. But, different's not always better... Look, what I'm trying to say is that I don't regret anything - or what I've done to get where I am. Don't regret coming here either."

"Good, because I'm gonna need you ready once we hit Voeld. Word from Jaal is that calling it cold would be short-selling it."

"Ugh. Turians don't exactly do well in the cold, you know."

"Well, then bundle up. No way I'm going out there without you watching my back." he said before the door closed behind him.

Vetra couldn't help but form her mandibles into a grin, sitting back in her seat and letting out a long breath.

 _I have a good feeling about you, Ryder._


	7. Chapter 7: The Wager

_**Apologies for the delay. Now that finals are done, updates should be more frequent**_

* * *

Vetra kept her hands and eyes busy, calibrating her custom Cyclone assault rifle at the weapons bench inside the armory. Her shots seemed to be getting weaker, might be time to install a new rail amp. She'd have to check with her contacts, maybe make a few extra deals, but in the end it would work out. A little extra work is a small price to pay for making sure you can make it through a fight. And truth be told, there was something about the act of calibration that relaxed her.

She felt very relaxed, doing some calibrations while listening to the soft hum of the drive core. Some of the others in the squad didn't like the hum, but Vetra rather enjoyed it. It was a sign that the ship was working right. She glanced up at the door when a loud crash came from the cargo bay, followed by an exchange of muffled words from what sounded like Gil and Cora. Her mandibles briefly curved into a small smile as she returned to her weapon. As far as squads went, this one was definitely the best one she'd had. It sure beat the dour mercenary companies she'd freelanced for on occasion.

Cora was a good one, a solid second in command. Her biotics easily kicked as much ass as Ryder's, sometimes even more. Things were a little rough between them at first - Cora wasn't a fan of what she saw in Vetra's file, clearly unsure of the turian's loyalties - but they were soon able to leave the past in the past and forged a bond of mutual respect.

But on the opposite end of the spectrum was Liam. Vetra and Liam hadn't been able to say so much as two sentences to each other without an argument breaking out since they first left the Nexus. Vetra had to admit, his hostility did make some sense. He was an ex-cop, she was an ex-smuggler/merc/gunner, etc. The two didn't exactly mix well. Still, they both knew that they have to depend on each other in order to survive out in Heleus. When the two of them were out in the field with Ryder, there were no hiccups. They just did their best to steer clear of each other on the Tempest.

Peebee was an odd one. The asari had tried her best to maintain her distance from just about everyone since they first left Eos, but recently she'd been managing to get around and chat with the crew every now and then. Peebee actually seemed to like Vetra quite a bit, which the turian found a bit surprising. Apparently she had even met Sid the last time they were on the Nexus. Vetra could definitely see the two of them getting along; they were both chatty, bouncy, and quite often irritating.

Drack was just good to have around. A real old-timer with some real experience under his belt and the scars to show for it. If he and Vetra had met back when they were each mercs, they would've either made a hell of a team… or have had one hell of a fight trying to kill each other, depending on the contract. They'd each compared war stories, scars, and given each other more than enough shit about how they shoot. Though, it was mostly him critiquing her, coaching her on her aim or shield modulation. It never hurt to have a few pointers every now and then.

To Vetra, the most interesting crew member was Jaal. The angaran still wasn't very trusting of the rest of the crew - which she understood - but he was still just so… open about how he felt. When he made an observation about anyone, he'd let them know it. And if anyone ever had _anything_ they wanted to get off their chest, he'd be there to listen. He was also a deadly shot with that rifle of his, pairing quite well with her and Ryder. She'd make herself a distraction, ducking, diving and always keeping the enemy off balance. The Pathfinder would charge in, sweeping across the battlefield like a great biotic wind. And Jaal would stay back, lining up deadly shot after shot on the thoroughly disoriented and disheartened foes.

And Ryder was just… well, Ryder. Easily Vetra's favorite person on the Tempest, and she probably wasn't alone. He seemed to get along well with everyone else, probably something to do with how he always had a lame joke ready at just the right time. But most importantly, he also seemed to really _care_. He always made it his top priority to make sure his crew had everything they needed. Recently, Ryder had been dropping by each day for a long chat with Vetra, something she found herself looking forward to. They'd talk about anything really: from life back in the Milky Way, to stories about their sisters. (Vetra had already made a note to get any embarrassing stories from Sara once she woke up.)

Vetra had always been good when it came to talking, generally able to angle the conversation towards whatever she wanted. She had to be in her line of work. But it had never felt as natural as when she and Ryder talked. Hell, earlier she had accidentally called him Scott and their conversation hardly skipped a beat.

Scott Ryder was… well, Vetra wasn't completely sure. Clearly, the entire Initiative was lucky to have him as Pathfinder. Vetra was just lucky to have him as a friend.

But Vetra found the whole thing to be a little odd. She couldn't remember the last time she saw a colleague as anything more than just that - someone she worked with. Vetra was always too busy with work or with raising Sid to head out on the town for a few drinks. And as a freelance mercenary, most of her colleagues weren't people Vetra was eager to spend much time with anyway. Things hadn't been that much different in Andromeda. Between reading reports on the Nexus, helping maintain the Tempest, and getting out in the field, she could never find much time for leisurely activities.

But somehow, Vetra and Ryder were able to find time to meet up and do just about anything. He'd convinced Vetra to come to Vortex with the rest of the crew a few more times, which she now really enjoyed. She could just relax and enjoy herself.

Hell, just talking with Ryder was more fun than most dates she'd ever gone on.

Vetra really valued their friendship, and was amazed at all he'd managed to accomplish since the Hyperion arrived.

Which is why as of late, she's been trying to think of ways to thank Ryder for all he's done for the Initiative, and for her as well. Vetra has already let him know how much he's changed things, but she wanted to do a bit more than just sing praise. She wanted to do something specifically for him. Something personal, from one friend to another. It just pissed her off that she couldn't think of exactly what that thing was. She had a lot of ideas, but none of them really seemed to fit right. She could get Ryder a new pistol, but he already had a Predator that suited him fine (plus, a turian getting someone a gun as a gift seemed too cliche.) A new set of armor might work, but truth be told, she actually really liked the look of him in his white and blue Initiative armor.

 _Am I putting too much thought into this?_ Vetra pondered. _I'm sure whatever I get Scott will like._

She heard the sound of the armory door opening behind her, turning to see Ryder with a devilish grin on his face.

" _You_ ," he said, pointing directly at Vetra. "Have been keeping secrets from me."

She let out a huff. Whatever Ryder was talking about, Vetra could tell it wasn't serious.

"Alright, I'll bite. What magnificent secret have I been hiding from you, Scott?"

"Well, I found out something rather interesting. Turns out there's this woman onboard the Tempest - tall, loves guns, doesn't take shit from anyone, you'd like her - but apparently her backstory about being a badass merc and smuggler was all just a ruse."

"Oh really? Care to explain?"

"Turns out, her real life was a lot more interesting. Her secret passion, her true desire was to be … a table dancer on Omega!"

Vetra's eyes went wide. This was the last thing she expected him to be talking about. How the hell did he even hear about that?

"Wha… I… how did you even-"

"Cora told me about it. And as your friend, I took it upon myself to give you as much shit as possible for it. So, would you like to explain yourself? At least tell me you got good tips for it…"

"Spirits, Scott." Vetra groaned. "It was one job. _One_. Somehow it ended up being _me_ watching the floor and providing a distraction."

"Distraction… _right_." he said, earning a hard punch to the arm from the turian. "Ow, alright, alright!"

"Ugh, that is the last time I tell her something in good faith..." Vetra said, talons rubbing her forehead plates.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. And by the way, those moves you make on the battlefield make a lot more sense now that I know a bit more about your… background." Ryder said, suppressing a laugh.

"I wasn't… I sucked, alright? I tripped over my own feet thirty seconds in and accidentally ripped out a volus's rebreather trying to break my fall."

"Yikes. That doesn't sound good."

"It gets worse. He started stumbling backwards and ran right into a bunch of batarian mercs. They were _not_ pleased." Vetra said.

"Okay, that's pretty bad. I take you didn't make very much from this job, did you?"

"Well, my cut took a bit of a hit for nearly screwing the entire op, but in the end we managed to do what we needed to, and by the time the fighting stopped we were nowhere to be found."

"Good. At least things worked out for you. Even if you didn't find your true calling." Ryderteased.

Vetra let out another groan. "I swear, the second Sara wakes up, we're going to have a nice long chat about all _your_ dirty laundry."

"And I will completely deserve it, but until then, I will have to make the occasional comment about how _awful_ your dancing skills are. Besides, I guarantee whatever Sara's got on me isn't nearly as bad as this."

"You wanna bet?" she asked, raising her brow-plates slightly.

"Deal." Ryder replied with a smug grin. "But, if whatever she tells you isn't more humiliating than you being the galaxy's worst table dancer, you owe me… dinner."

"What? I don't know the first thing about human food."

"Come on, you'll do fine. You have a particular talent for finding things, and I bet someone out there brought something good to Andromeda. Shouldn't be that hard to find."

"Okay, fine. But if what she tells me _is_ worse, I get to drive the nomad." Vetra said.

"Alright, Nyx. You're on." he said, pointing at her and walking backwards towards the door. "But just so you know, I like my meat rare." he gave her a small wave just as the door closed behind him, leaving Vetra alone in the armor with an amused grin on her face.

 _Scott Ryder, you are going to regret the day you messed with me._


	8. Chapter 8: Reality Check

_And… there. That should do it._ Vetra thought, admiring her handywork. She quickly slid out from underneath the Nomad and wiped her hands clean of all the grime and other crap that had managed to get itself stuck down there the last time they were on Eos. With the way Scott sometimes drives, she was lucky it wasn't worse.

Vetra crossed another item off her mental to-do list, only to pause for a moment and realize something: she didn't have anything else to do. Nothing to repair, nothing to calibrate, and nothing else to keep her from thinking about that nightmare on Voeld.

Since they docked at the Nexus, Vetra's been trying to keep her head clear by doing just about 'd already calibrated everyone's weapons, even making sure to not do anything about the kick on Drack's shotgun. "It's fine the way it is." the old krogan always said. She'd also supplied the Tempest with a fresh stock of thermal clips, even managing to get a handful of Cobra RPGs that the Nexus wasn't usually willing to give up. In addition to that, she had re-organized the armory, managed to track down that filter for the drive core that Gil's been wanting, looked up a few popular human dishes just in case she wound up losing her bet with Scott, and now she had just finished up repairs on the Nomad.

Exaltation. That's what the Kett called it, like they were bestowing some gift upon those Angaran. The Kett didn't conquer or enslave - they changed literally everything about those they invade; their looks, their personality, even their genetic makeup.

If Vetra had known what that facility was doing the first time they were on Voeld, she wouldn't have let Ryder leave before they had shut the place down. But back then there were too many unknowns about the place. What it did, what the Kett defenses were like … it was all a mystery to both the Initiative and the Angara.

So Ryder had decided to instead try to stabilize the climate on Voeld so it would be easier for the Angaran to get around, and in turn get some better intel on the Kett facility. Once they'd managed to get the vault online, they left for Havarl and let the Angara go to work. Not long after, the Resistance requested assistance in taking down the facility, which Ryder was happy to oblige.

Everyone else on the ship was trying to keep their minds off the facility as well. Looking to her left, Vetra could see Liam and Cora tinkering with their jump-jets, which they've been doing for a solid two hours now. She knew that Drack and Peebee had already disembarked from the Tempest, for Drack to probably to go to one of the shooting ranges and let out some anger, and for Peebee to tinker with some more Remnant tech or whatever it was she did. Gil was in the process of making the drive core spotless, Kalo was running hundreds of flight sims, and Suvi was now quadruple checking her notes on the atmospheric changes on Havarl and Voeld.

But out of everyone in the crew, Jaal was definitely in the worst shape. He had barely left the tech lab since they got back from the kett facility, only stepping out for a bit when they dropped the Moshae off on Aya. Vetra couldn't imagine what he was going through, knowing that your worst enemy used to be your own people.

It was a lot to take in, and she still didn't really know how to process everything. She wanted to go and talk to Scott about it, but he was currently meeting with Nexus leadership.

 _I guess I could go see Sid._ Vetra thought. It _had_ been quite awhile since they'd spoken face to face. Seeing her sister could be nice, and maybe help distract her for a little bit.

Vetra opened up her omni-tool and sent a message to Sid.

 _Hey, you available soon? Realized it's been too long since I've hounded my little sister about something…_

 _-V_

To her surprise, it took no less than thirty seconds for Sid to reply.

 _Sure! Kesh just let me take a break, so I'm good for the next hour. Wanna meet up at my place? I promise it's not too messy._

 _-S_

Vetra smiled and sent a response. She remembered how surprised she'd been when Sid got assigned her own apartment when the younger Nyx had gotten out of cryo. There weren't many minors out of cryo, and she was probably the only one to get her own place. But, Vetra had decided it would be a good chance to teach Sid some responsibility. Spirits knew Sid had been pining for some independence for years.

Walking down the cargo bay ramp and onto the landing pad, Vetra could help but feel like something was… off with the maintenance crew. It wasn't until she reached the commons area that she realized what it was; everyone was acting far too... normal.

Had the news about the kett facility on Voeld not reached them yet? Not likely, considering Ryder had briefed Nexus leadership via comms as soon as they'd gotten back to the Tempest. Leadership was probably trying to prevent the news to spread to the public, so as to not cause a panic. It did make a certain kind of sense, but Vetra couldn't help but think that everyone needed to know just how serious of a situation they're really in.

After taking the tram a few levels up, she was only a short walk away from Sids apartment. She approached and gave a the door a soft knock.

"Coming!" she heard Sid say from the inside.

Seconds later the door opened, revealing the younger Nyx.

"Vetra!" Sid said, smiling at her older sister.

"Hey, kiddo." Vetra replied, bringing Sid in for a brief hug. She released her sister and took a quick glance inside the apartment. "Huh. It's a lot cleaner than the last time I was here, I'll give you that."

"Yeah, I know. Trust me, it was a lot worse a minute ago." Sid joked, gesturing for Vetra to come inside.

Sid's apartment barely classified as one, just like Vetra's old place used to. It could be classified as a single room in it's entirety, with a kitchen - living room combo separated from a twin sized bed by nothing more than a corner and a thin divider. It wasn't much, but it was certainly better than some of the places the two of them had stayed before.

"So, how's life back on the Nexus? You getting used to your new job?" Vetra asked, taking a seat on the couch next to Sid.

"Yeah, it's alright. Monitoring comms can be a little… dull at time, but you can sometimes hear some pretty interesting things. Last week two guys took a couple of shuttles and decided to race them from one end of the Nexus to another. That was fun to listen in on."

"I bet." Vetra chuckled. "How did leadership react to that one?"

"Fortunately, not with exiling them. A short stay in a holding cell, some community service, nothing too hard." Sid replied.

"Good to know. We need all the people we can get. How's Kesh treating you by the way?"

"She's nice… for a krogan. Says she sees a lot me you in me. It's like we're sisters or something..." Sid joked. "And honestly, the work's not that bad. Better than I was expecting. Hours aren't too bad either."

"Well, if you wanted to start working overtime, I could go have a chat with Kesh…"

"Spirits, no! I don't like it _that_ much. Believe it or not, I don't really want to listen in on radio chatter for the rest of my life."

"Alright, alright. Enough about work." Vetra said. "How's everything else going for you?"

"Pretty good. They've started making anyone underage attend this weekly meeting-thing. There aren't many people there, but it's actually kinda nice. Just got a few new kids in last week. A human named Jacob and a salarian girl named… Matann, I think. Heh, it was kinda funny. This other girl, Linda, she walked in and…"

Vetra didn't know exactly when, but at some point she just sort of stopped listening to Sid. She wanted to listen, but she couldn't help but find what she was talking about to be… well, she didn't really know. Inconsequential? Like, the funniest thing ever could've happened in that meeting, but it wouldn't matter in the slightest if the Kett turned everyone in the Initiative into bone-faced monsters.

But really, it was a good thing that her sister was focusing on something small and somewhat meaningless. It let Vetra know that Sid was still Sid, and that all the stuff that had gone wrong since they arrived in Andromeda wasn't going to affect her. In a way, she was happy the news of the Kett exaltation wasn't commonly known. It let Sid keep the innocence that Vetra was never able to have growing up.

Vetra suddenly realised that Sid had gone silent, and she looked up to see the younger Nyx looking at her with a raised brow-plate.

"V? You okay?" she asked.

Vetra shook her head. "Yeah, sorry. Just… thinking about some repairs I need to make back on the Tempest.

"Ah! You know what? Enough about me." Sid began. " _You're_ the one that get's to do all the fun stuff. Tell me some good stories!"

"Eh, I don't know, Sid. I don't that's really-"

"Oh, come on! Just one story. Like… what was the last thing you did before coming back to the Nexus?"

"We… assaulted a Kett facility on one of the old Angaran colonies."

"Really? Oh, that's so awesome! Ugh, stuff like that is why I wish I could be out there with you."

"I mean, it's not all sunshine and-" Vetra started before Sid interrupted.

"Like, you get to go out and actually make a difference while I have to sit around all day doing something so easy that anyone could do it!

"Sid, come on, you-"

"And you get to fly around Heleus with the Pathfinder and do… everything! Explore new worlds, beat up bad guys. Really V, you've gotta try and convince Ryder to let me do something on his ship."

"Sid!" Vetra snapped, causing her sister to jump. "What we do out there is not a game. It's serious, and it's dangerous."

"Vetra I… I just meant I could help on the ship, not go around shooting at things like-"

"No, you don't get it, Sid it's…" she paused for a moment, thinking about how to put this. "Remember that Kett facility I told you about? You know what those bastards were doing in there?"

They younger turian shook her head.

"They were turning Angaran into Kett. Not recruiting them to their side, not working them like slaves, literally changing everything - every limb, every inch of skin, everything down to the their very genetic makeup. Do you get how horrific that is? Our Angaran crewmate on the ship, Jaal … he can't help but see every Kett as one of his own that he has to put down now. And now, every time I think about it I can't help but wonder what if ..."

At this Vetra paused, mandibles splayed, the emotion thick in her voice.

"The further you are away from that the better, ok? I dragged us out here to keep you safe, not to see you turned into some … "

Vetra fell silent, and a long moment passed between the sisters before Sid spoke.

"Spirits, Vetra I… I had no idea…"

"No Sid, you didn't … Look, I'm sorry - I didn't mean to scare you. It's just, things have been rough. It all seems glamourous, I'm sure. But there's a very real possibility that one day I just … won't come back."

Vetra placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"I just want to know that you're going to be ok, alright?"

"It's okay, I just… didn't realize what things were really like out there."

"Hey, forget about it. I came over here to hang out, right? Not lecture you on the dangers of the universe. So, what do you want to do?"

Just as Vetra finished speaking, a ping came from her omni-tool. She looked down to see an new message from Ryder.

 _Just gone finished nearly being nagged to death by leadership, looking to let off a bit of steam. Meet me at the firing range in 10?_

 _-Scott_

"What's up?" Sid asked.

"Just Ryder. He just got out of a meeting and wants someone to shoot things with."

"Oh, in that case, you just forget I even exist and go have fun on your _date_." Sid joked.

"Har har." Vetra replied, giving her sister a brief hug before getting up making her way towards the tram.

 _A date with Scott._ She thought. _That'll be the day._


	9. Chapter 9: The Challenge

_**Again, apologies for the delays. I meant to get this out sooner, but for some reason my brain decided it needed to play through the entire Dark Souls series first. Hope you enjoy.**_

* * *

It had been almost twenty minutes since Vetra had seen so much as a glimpse of movement through her sights. She panned slowly to the left once she was sure nothing was going to pop out from behind an outcropping of rocks in the distance. Letting out a heavy sigh, Vetra wondered if the heat was starting to get to her…

"You know, there's no shame in giving up." she heard Scott teased from behind her. Vetra turned back for just a moment to see him sitting back against a nearby rock, arms crossed, sporting his smuggest grin.

"And let you hold this over my head for the rest of my life? Please…" Vetra scoffed and turned her attention back to the Viper sniper rifle in her hands. _He_ was the one who challenged her to this little contest in the first place and she had every intention of winning it, even though he wasn't making it easy.

Thirty minutes with a rifle each. Whoever hits more targets wins, loser owes the other a bottle of whatever they want at the Nexus.

The contest was a welcome change for them both, after spending two days scrambling around the heat baked surface of Elaadin trying to make things right with the Krogans, delving inside the wreck of a crashed Remnant starship, and taking out camp after camp of hostile outlaws. Krogans were historically never a very trusting bunch, even moreso after what happened to them back on the Nexus. But Ryder managed to work his magic and convince the clan to work with the Initiative, and all it took was the drive core of a Remnant starship.

Drack had decided to stick around New Tuchanka for a while to try and convince the other krogan that having the Initiative around was in fact a good thing, and the rest of the crew had booked it back to the Tempest to get away from the heat. But before Vetra made it to the cool interior of the ship, Scott presented the challenge.

It seemed like an easy win; a merc who's an expert in all things guns against a biotic who's prefered way of dealing with foes is to literally punch them until they aren't a problem anymore.

But as she stood at the top of a cliff a few kilometers out from New Tuchanka, Vetra was mentally scolding herself for not seeing through his plan sooner. She let out another frustrated sigh and once again skimmed over the dunes on her right. Nothing.

"Come on, just admit that I'm a better shot than you. We can get out of the sun and not have to sit here while you try desperately to hit something."

He was trying to get to her, but she wasn't going to let it happen. She could see what his plan was now.

When they first arrived Scott had leapt out of the Nomad before she could even blink, and was already lining up his shots. From their vantage, Vetra had spotted an entire pack of wild Ahdi in the valley nearby, so there were plenty of targets. But despite the target rich environment and the element of suprise, Scott somehow managed to miss most of his shots. But ust as he was about to hit the thirty minute mark Scott just barely winged one in the leg sending it reeling down a sand dune. Vetra was far from impressed; in half an hour he had barely managed to hit even _one_ target, yet he still walked away grinning from ear to ear.

And it wasn't until he handed Vetra the rifle that she realized why: after thirty minutes of gunfire, every animal in four clicks had gone running for the hills leaving nothing in sight. That may have spelt game over for Liam or Cora, but the turian knew how to be patient - she had to in her kind of work. She'd wait for the Adhi to return just like a dozen other stakeouts she'd been through.

But after lying prone in the hot sun for almost her full half hour, and with not a single twitch of movement anywhere in sight, her time was running out, and she was starting to get irritated. Which was exactly what Scott wanted in the first place. That and being able to claim that he was a better shot than her, which wasn't true in the slightest.

"You know, I always knew I should've taken that recon course back in the Alliance. Ah well…" Ryder said, interrupting her focus.

"Why? So you could get kicked out due to sheer incompetence?" Vetra replied.

"Well, I'm clearly a better marksman than you, so I think I would've been fine."

"Need I remind you that I'm not a sniper? I just know how guns work. You on the other hand probably only use a shotgun because you would never hit your target with anything else." she said, once again finding nothing through her scope.

"Big talk coming from someone who's behind right now…"

"Just give me a few more minutes and we'll see who's really the best here. This isn't my first time using one of these things after all."

"Oh yeah? Any good stories?" Ryder asked.

Vetra adjusted herself slightly and continued looking down the scope, the bare, dry desert still not showing even a hint of life anywhere.

"Yeah, I've got a few good ones. This one time out in the Traverse, a group I was running with got a job to guard a volus at a deal he had set up. Probably something to do with either red sand or illegal arms, I never got a look at the cargo. It was safer not to know, usually. But anyway, I was assigned to overlook the whole thing from about half a mile out. And like every good shady deal, someone on the other end wasn't happy and shots started flying."

"Damn. Everyone make it out okay?" he asked.

"Easily. We were well trained merc group going up against a gang of street thugs. Not hard to see who would win that one. After all, I managed to take down three of them with a single shot."

"What?" Ryder said, the surprise in his voice clearly audible. "Three? No way."

"Well… technically the third guy died of a heart attack. Wouldn't be fair to count him." Vetra said, turning her head towards Ryder and curving her mandibles into a grin.

Ryder just stared at her with an almost dumbfounded look on his face, which Vetra could help but find a little funny.

"You… okay, you _have_ to be lying to me, right?" he said after a few seconds.

She chuckled in response and turned her attention back to the scope. "Yeah. But it makes for a good story, right?"

The grumbling heard from Ryder cause Vetra to let out another chuckle. They were each quite good at irritating the other when they wanted to, and considering the past half hour of irritation that Scott had put her through, it only seemed fair to return the favor in some way.

"Maybe. But, it doesn't really matter all that much. You've only got about… a minute left before I win and you haven't even fired a single shot yet. A shame, really…"

He continued talking, probably about how he was going to be able to brag to everyone else about how much better he is, but at this point she wasn't listening. She had finally seen it.

Movement. _Something_ was out there.

It was only a few seconds before she was able to zero in on exactly what it was. _Way_ off in the distance, probably a few miles out, were two Adhi that had just appeared over one of the dunes. Vetra internally smiled, not wanting to let Scott know that something had finally popped up.

Vetra started to steady her breathing, and began thinking over her options. At this range, she could hit at least one of them easily. As it would turn out, when you fire a piece of metal the size of a grain of sand at supersonic speeds, it can tend to go pretty far. The main issue was, as soon as one of the Adhi went down, the other one would start to bolt, and Vetra didn't quite trust her skills enough to land a shot on something that small running at full speed.

So, she could either get an almost guaranteed hit on one and secure a tie, but then Scott would probably brag about how he's just as good as her. She could also take less time to steady the first shot in order to give herself a chance at hitting the second, but then she'd risk losing outright, which was _not_ going to happen.

Just as Vetra thought that she was going to have to take down one and live with a tie, she noticed the two Adhi start to dig into the sand on top of the dune. She had seen some of them do that before, apparently to get to some of the creatures that burrow into the sand.

Her eyes went wide when each Ahdi dipped their head into the whole they had just made, overlapping perfectly from the angle Vetra was at. If there was ever a time to take a shot, it was now.

She kept her hands steady to make sure there was no chance she was going to miss. She could still hear Scott talking, but was making no effort to actually listen to him, though she guessed he was still taunting her.

The crosshair lined up right on the first Ahdi's neck, and the shot would surely go right through it and hit the second one as well.

Vetra held her breath, moving as little as possible. She was _not_ going to miss this shot.

 _.KRAKOW!_

Vetra saw the flash of the round, felt the recoil of the Viper hard against her shoulder, the dust on the rocks around her scattering into the air. She quickly looked back down the scope in time to see both of the Ahdi fall to the ground almost instantly, her mandibles once again curved into a smile.

"I win." she said, getting up from her prone position so that she was now standing. She turned to see Scott still sitting against the rock with a confused look on his face.

"Uh, pretty sure I heard only one shot there." he said.

"Yep."

"So, we tied."

"Nope." Vetra said, trying her best to sound as obnoxiously smug as he was being earlier. She walked over to Scott and handed him the rifle. He immediately stood up and aimed at where she had fired.

After a few seconds, she heard him mutter "No way..."

"So, yeah. You know me, I love some good brandy, so I'll be taking a bottle of that next time we're at the Nexus."

"Wait wait… but I… you… How the hell did you do that?" he asked, turning back towards her.

"A lot of skill, a lot of patience, and a little bit of luck. Maybe if you had taken a bit more time to line up your shots you would've gotten a few more hits."

"I… I'm trying to be upset at you right now, but I really can't. That was a _nice_ shot, Vetra."

"Thank you. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get out of this heat. And you know, to flaunt my victory in front of everyone else." she said giving him a small nudge and making her way towards the Nomad.

"Dammit. I was supposed to be the one doing that! You're stealing my thunder."

"Welp, should've thought of that before you cheated…"

"I did not cheat! I never cheat! I just… bend the rules sometimes."

"Right, just like how using SAM to beat Gil in poker wasn't cheating."

"Hey, I told him as soon as the game was over, and we each agreed that game didn't really count. I just wanted to see the look on his face when he finally lost. And I would've seen the same look from you, except you had to go and ruin all the fun."

"Maybe if you could actually aim a gun to save you life you would've gotten to see it." Vetra said as they approached the Nomad.

"Whatever. You love me just the way I am, and you know it." he said, giving her a small smirk as he climbed into the driver's seat, with Vetra making her way to the other side.

 _Yeah. Yeah, I do know it._


	10. Chapter 10: Means and Ends

Vetra suppressed another angry huff as she paced around the empty armory of the Tempest. Fists clenched, she muttered another curse under her breath as she walked. Reaching the end of the bay, she turned on her heels and cleared her throat. It was hoarse from a few hours of yelling and lecturing Sid, an endeavor that had proved both frustrating and fruitless. Vetra cursed her luck that the Nyx family stubbornness extended to her wayward sister.

She moved over to the window overlooking the cargo bay, glaring over at Sid who was sitting on a group of supply crates stacked next to the Nomad. The younger Nyx sent a quick glare to her older sister before crossing her arms and turning her head, causing Vetra's brow plates to furrow in annoyance.

 _That stupid little… doesn't she release how much danger she'd put herself in?_

Vetra moved away from the window, collapsing onto the chair at her desk. Her thoughts whirled around angrily in her head, but began to coalesce into a single terrifying thought:

She had come close to losing Sid.

The turian hadn't noticed anything unusual about Sid when she contacted the Tempest three days ago. Sid had given them useful leads on a few things out in Heleus before, so Ryder had been more than willing to follow another one.

But Vetra' could sense that something was off the minute they had arrived at H-047c. Scott had gotten on comms with Sid to see if she had gotten any more info on a group of missing settlers that were allegedly somewhere on that ruin of a planet. Sid had been much more subdued than usual, and Vetra hadn't heard any of the ambient noise of Nexus chatter that could usually be heard in the background. It hadn't sat right with Vetra, but she hadn't been able to articulate why.

They'd approached the facility where the colonists were being held at, only to stumble into a raider trap that left them imprisoned with the colonists they'd come to find. Nothing that unusual for Vetra's line of work.

But then the colonists (who revealed themselves to actually exiles) started praising Vetra like she'd been helping them for months. Something Vetra knew for certain she hadn't been doing. Working with Exiles was a sure fire way to get into trouble with both the Nexus and Sloan - too risky.

But as it would turn out, Sid had been the one in contact with the exiles. She'd impersonated Vetra , using Vetra's contacts to make deals and promises in her sister's name. Deals that Vetra wasn't even sure she could make.

It did explain a number of strange reactions and conversations Vetra had had with some of her associates. Vetra was sure she could find a way out of a few of the more outlandish deals, even if that meant making a few more. It was annoying, but Vetra could forgive Sid for causing all that trouble.

But what Vetra couldn't forgive was Sid taking a damned shuttle from the Nexus, piloting it all the way to the facility, and putting herself quite literally into the gunsights of a group of Red Sand crazed smugglers from Kadara.

Vetra knew that she'd taught Sid better than that, but apparently the message hadn't stuck. Sid had ended up having a psychopath take her hostage with a live grenade, and Vetra had no doubt the smuggler would've pulled the pin and taken out both themselves and Sid if there were no other options.

But the Spirits had been looking out for her; Ryder was there to help pull Sid's ass out of the fire. Vetra had watched in surprise as Scott had taken a crack shot to kill the smuggler, dashed forward to tackle Sid, and used his biotics to charge backwards as the grenade detonated. Sid had come away without a scratch because of Ryder. Vetra knew that without Ryder she would have lost her sister.

But now the crisis was over; Sid was safe, and they were all comfortably aboard the Tempest on their way back to the were still a few days out from the Nexus, and Vetra had taken the opportunity to tear Sid a new one. Afterwards, the two turians weren't on speaking terms with one another. Every conversation just ended in a shouting match that left Vetra pacing in frustration in the armory.

Vetra sure as hell wasn't going to let anything like this happen again. She'd get in contact with Kesh soon, tell her to relieve Sid of duty for a while. Maybe pull a few favors to get someone from security to watch her and make sure she doesn't try anything that idiotic again. Of course, that was assuming she had any favors left to pull after what Sid did.

Vetra's brooding was cut short by the sound of the door to the armory opening. The turian turned her head sharply, half expecting another argument with Sid, but was relieved to see Scott standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey," Vetra muttered before turning back to her console.

"Hey yourself," Scott said, moving further into the room so that the doors shut behind him. He glanced around the room for a second before leaning nonchalantly against the wall.

"So, I've got a problem I think you can help me out with."

"Yeah? What's that?" Vetra asked with a sigh, already seeing where this was going.

"Well ... I've these two turians on board my ship who are at each other's throats, and I'd like to at least get them to not scream and holler like a pair of vorcha every time they talk. Otherwise it's going to be a long trip back to the Nexus."

"Look Scott, I appreciate it, but-"

"Nope," Ryder interrupted forcefully, his voice raised. "I'm not hearing it. I know damn well that you don't care about anything in this whole galaxy more than Sid. I've heard nothing but shouting for the past couple of days, so you two are clearly getting nowhere. I'm here doing my duty as your captain to make sure you're in ship shape, because right now you're not. You're distracted, and don't get me started about ship morale."

Ryder paused, before continuing in a more relaxed tone.

"So just… you know, talk to me before I have to order you to. Because if I do that, it'll probably get you mad at me, making me mad at you, and then you've got a cranky Pathfinder to worry abou-"

"Alright, alright!" Vetra said. "Just… don't blame me if you don't understand, alright?"

"Try me. You forget, I've got a sister too. I know exactly how infuriating they are," Scott said, taking a seat on a nearby crate.

"Look, I…" Vetra began, thinking of how exactly she was going to phrase this. "I told that I brought Sid here for a fresh start. To get away from all the bad shit back home, right?"

"Right."

"Well, part of that was not wanting her to end up like me. Smuggling, mercenary work, all that stuff. The only reason I did that is because it was all I knew how to do. It was all I was good at. But I wasn't proud of it, and I sure as hell didn't want Sid to have to do that to survive."

Vetra looked briefly up at Ryder, who was leaning forward and listening intently.

"I thought a new galaxy would be the perfect place to get away from it all. A nice, fresh start for Sid where she wouldn't need to do any of the shit I did to make a living. But then we got here and everything went to hell, and… I still wanted her to be safe more than anything."

"Right, but how would I not understand that? I want to keep Sara safe too."

"Yeah, but Sara's… like you, at least from what I hear. Hell, she'd probably have wound up as the Pathfinder if it'd been your pod that malfunctioned."

"Huh, now there's a scary thought!" Ryder quipped.

"But with Sid it's different. She's not like me, and I don't want her to be. She should do whatever she wants to do with her life, not just follow in my footsteps. I didn't have a choice, but she does."

Ryder nodded thoughtfully, and there was a pause before he responded.

"Well ... have you ever considered that maybe that's what Sid wants? To do what you do?"

"No. Not happening!" Vetra growled, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"And why not? You saw some of the things she did at that place. She was able to infiltrate the facility, hack right into their network, and she helped us get through anything in our way. We'd have been screwed without her."

"Only because I was able to walk her through it. And she was hacking into doors without checking for safeguards! That's help we don't need. Not there, not anywhere."

"So, then help her out! Teach her how to do some of the ins and outs of what you do. You've got to admit, she's got talent ..."

"Oh yeah that'll really help things!" Vetra shouted and stood up from her chair, polyphonic overtones emanating from her subharmonics. "Hey Sid! You nearly got yourself killed! Congrats! Why don't come work with your big sister? That way when something goes wrong not only are you dead, but I'm responsible!"

"Vetra, I'm not saying you should-"

"Look, Scott… I'm sorry I yelled… she's just... she's not a fighter, alright? I mean you heard her back there. She was getting upset that we had to kill those raiders, acting like they weren't throwing everything they had our way to try and kill us. She doesn't get that you can't have excitement and adventure without pain and blood. If she gets herself into trouble and I'm not there to protect her, then… well, like I said. She's not like Sara."

Ryder didn't respond for a moment, only lowering his head as if thinking over his response.

"Well, you're right Vetra. Sid's not like Sara. But the difference is, you can do something to help her right now. With Sara, I can do nothing. It doesn't matter if I'm halfway across Heleus or sitting right next to her. If something happens while she's in that coma I can't do a damned thing to help her except scream for someone else to try and fix her. But you can do something. You can help her prepare for anything that might happen, or give her some training so she won't need you to walk her through things. Help her not make mistakes."

Vetra turned her head away briefly before looking back at Ryder.

"But what if she gets herself into another mess? What if she gets hurt?" she asked.

"That might happen. But I'm certain that Sid is wondering what she'd do if you got hurt. That's why she risked everything to help; she's scared too. You can't just keep saying 'what if' to yourself and not let Sid reach her full potential." Ryder said before standing up and moving over towards her. "And if anything does happen, then I'm here for the both of you."

His hands reached out, grabbing onto Vetra's shoulders and softly rubbing up and down her arms.

"I care about Sid because I care about you."

She could feel her heart wanting to pound its way out of her chest, but she felt frozen in place, save for her twitching mandibles. Why was she liking this so much?

"Scott, I… I don't know what to say…"

Neither of them spoke for several seconds. They just stood there, staring into each other's eyes, not wanting to move a muscle.

"Hey, you don't have to saying anything…" he replied, moving closer and wrapping his arms around her in a soft hug.

She could again feel that pounding in her chest, and with Scott this close she could feel the pounding in his as well.

Suddenly, Vetra found her arms wrapping themselves around Ryders shorter frame, her right hand lightly rubbing at his back. To her it felt like they were standing there for an eternity, but in reality it had only been a few seconds before Ryder pulled away, leaving Vetra almost… disappointed.

"Anyway, I should let you get back to work. Just think about what I said, alright? I really don't want to see you two fighting the whole trip back."

"I'll… think it over. Thanks Scott,"

Vetra blinked in surprise as she heard the subharmonic trill she'd added when she'd said 'Scott.' Was she seriously flirting with her captain?

But before she could ponder this development Ryder continued.

"Good. I want my normal, everyday, running-headstrong-into-danger turian back." he said with a smile before moving through the doorway.

There was a deafening silence as the door slammed shut, leaving Vetra alone with just her thoughts.

 _Did...did that just happen?_

 _I mean, I didn't think he'd…_

 _Spirits, his touch…_

Vetra slumped back down into her chair and turned to face her desk, her mandibles twitching and her mind racing..

She shook her head and looked back down to the cargo bay to where her sister sat.

 _First things first. Patch things up with Sid, worry about your … attraction to Ryder later._

Vetra brought up her omni tool.

"Hey, Sid? Can we talk a sec? No yelling this time, I promise."


	11. Chapter 11: A Rocky Start

There were several moments in Vetra's life where she had been at a complete and utter loss about what to do next:

Getting kicked off Palaven, stranded alone on a station with her infant sister. Having a batarian merc take the young turian under their wing after she got caught stealing from them. The initial moment when she had first gotten out of cryosleep to find out just how much deep shit the Initiative was in.

But none of them came remotely close to the pure confusion that whirled through Vetra's head as a result of her incident with Ryder several days ago.

Her first impulse was to try to avoid him for the remaining two days in transit back to the Nexus. Whenever she and Ryder had ended up in the same room, Vetra tried her best to act like everything was normal and nothing weird had happened. As far as Vetra could tell, she seemed convincing. Ryder never acted strange or looked at her with suspicion, and the rest of the crew didn't seem to bat an eye at them.

But just because she was keeping up appearances in public, didn't mean she was keeping even remotely composed in private.

Every since they'd departed the Nexus, Vetra had spent almost any time she had alone thinking. About Ryder, about what happened, about what it all meant.

And now, sitting in the Tempest's armory alone, Vetra couldn't help but dwell on it. She had already finished all the work she had to do in Kadara Port, and had spent a good three hours going through a vicious cycle of procrastinating and thinking.

Clean up her rifle, think about Ryder.

Go get some food, have a brief chat with Suvi, think about Ryder.

Make sure the Nomad was working properly when Vetra already knew for a fact it was, think about Ryder.

She had just finished a particularly loathsome talk with Gil where he had insisted that the drive core was fine and he needed nothing. If he had just given Vetra _something_ to do she would've been satisfied. With nothing to occupy her, she had hunkered down back in the armory just waiting alone with her thoughts hoping her mind thought up some other idea to keep her distracted. Luckily Scott was out in Kadara with Cora and Jaal, so she didn't have to worry about running into him soon.

Vetra let out a groan and leaned back in her chair, her head almost going limp.

 _Spirits Vetra! You're not going to get anywhere sitting around and acting like a damn teenager! You've been through shit a thousand times worse than this._

The turian leaned forward, rubbing her hand briefly against her brow plates.

It wasn't hard for her to accept the fact that she _was_ attracted to Ryder. It was pretty obvious that she was, if her reaction to just his touch the other day was any indication.

The real question was why? She had never really been into non-turians before, save for one brief fling with an asari, but Vetra hardly counted that. Asari went out of their way to be as attractive as possible to every race … Hell, Varren probably found them attractive!

Humans though, that was a different story altogether. Not only were they fundamentally biologically distinct from turians, but the two species historically had a less than stellar introduction. Even years after first contact, there were still some barely healed wounds left over from the Relay 314 Incident.

Additionally, Vetra had never found humans very attractive. She'd heard of turians who did find humans scintillating, but had thought that very strange. Humans were soft, their legs were too straight, the hair on their heads just looked weird, and the lack of any subharmonics made it sometimes difficult to know exactly what they meant. If Scott had been a turian,Vetra would have known immediately if he was interested in her by the way he layered tritones into his voice.

But Scott wasn't a turian. He was a human, and yet here Vetra was thinking about him nonstop like a lovestruck kid who hasn't even made it to boot camp yet.

Try as she might to understand the attraction, the only explanation she could come up with that explained why she was so into Scott was because he was, well… Scott. She loved his friendly attitude, his terrible jokes, the way he genuinely cared about and listened to everyone on the crew, no matter what they were upset about or how stupid of a request they had. Scott was always there to help.

Plus, saving each other's asses on the regular certainly raised her opinion of him. Raised it to the point that she now _really_ wanted to be more than just a friend to him.

Vetra let out another groan. None of this pondering was helping her figure out exactly what she was going to do. Maybe she'd get an idea after another round of procrastination. And food, that'd probably help too.

She got up quickly from her chair and moved out of the armory, making her way towards the galley. The cargo bay was quiet as she passed, with only sounds being the muffled laughs from Liam coming from behind the closed door of his little den.

As Vetra passed by the crew quarters, she heard the door to the med bay on her right and turned her head to see Lexi standing in the door.

"Vetra, there you are. I've got something for you. Do you mind coming here for a second?"

"Uh, sure. What's this about doc?" Vetra asked as she made her way inside.

"Just some precautionary measures is all," Lexi replied while rummaging through some cabinets.

"Precautionary measures? For what?" Vetra asked in confusion.

"Oh there's no need to be embarrassed about it," Lexi said with a dismissive wave of her hand before retrieving a small bottle from her medical supplies and moving back over to Vetra.

"These," the doctor began handing the turian the pill bottle, "are for you. Take one before any contact and you shouldn't have any allergic reactions to worry about. However I still recommend you don't ingest anything; the risk of anaphylactic shock is low, but it does tend to put a damper on the mood."

"What?" Vetra asked, confused. "I'm sorry, what do you-" she began before Lexi cut her off by handing her another pill bottle.

"These are for Ryder. Same rules apply. Make sure to tell him in case I don't see him- and _don't_ mix them up with yours!"

"Doc, slow down. What are-"

"And here's some analgesic in case there's too much discomfort afterwards. Should help for you both," the asari doctor concluded matter-of-factly.

Vetra blinked dumbfounded at Lexi. Was this supposed to be some kind of joke? The asari had kept a perfectly straight face on the entire time, and Vetra knew for a fact that she would never toy around with her patients.

Before she could even begin to formulate a response , the door to the med bay opened behind her to reveal the hulking form and grizzled face of Drack.

"Vetra. Doc," the old krogan grunted, nodding at the two women.

"Ah, just in time. Vetra, do you mind? I've got to inspect Dracks implants," Lexi said, grabbing Vetra lightly by the arm and directing her out of the med bay.

"Uh… I still don't know what-"

"Ha! Like hell you don't," Drack snorted in amusement. "Just go find the Pathfinder already before I have to grab you both and lock you in a damn room. Unless you want me to. It worked for me and Kesh's grandma."

The krogan chuckled, grinning in amusement at Vetra.

"Hey, don't antagonize her," Lexi scolded Drack before turning back to Vetra. "You have any question, you just let me know." The doctor moved back into the med bay, leaving Vetra standing alone in the Tempest corridor looking back and forth between the door in front of ther and the medical supplies in her hands.

 _Do… do they know? How?_

Vetra could understand Lexi figuring it out. After all, it was her job to keep an eye on the health of everyone on the ship. But Drack? How'd he hear about it?

She shook the question out of her head, realizing that if they knew about it, others had probably heard as well.

As if to prove the point, Vetra heard the door to the crew quarters open and turned to find Kallo stepping out.

"Ah, hello Vetra!" the salarian said cheerily. Vetra watched in horror as Kallo's gaze quickly flitted to the pill bottles she held in her hands. She groaned inwardly as a broad smile appeared on the salarian's face.

"Oh my … Congratulations seem to be in order!" Kallo reached out to awkwardly pat Vetra on the shoulder.

"No, Kallo it's not-" Vetra began.

"We've all been pulling for you two," Kallo continued, clearly oblivious. "Though I'm sure Liam will be sad that you didn't wait until next week. He's going to lose 50 credits!"

"Lose … Wait, were you betting on me and Ryder?" Vetra asked, incredulous.

Kallo nodded and said, "Indeed! It was Peebee's idea. She said, 'If we have to watch those two dance around each other awkwardly, we might as well enjoy it…' The rest of the crew seemed to agree.'"

 _Spirits damn me,_ Vetra groaned internally.

"In any case, I'm happy for you two!" Kallo said sunnily.

"Uh … thanks Kal."

The salarian smiled again and turned to return to the bridge, leaving a very confused turian in his wake.

Did everyone on the Tempest know about her attraction? Did Ryder already know? What if he found out accidentally?

 _Screw it._

If Ryder was going to hear about the way she felt, it would be from her, not from someone else. Vetra pocketed the pills and marched back towards the armory.

* * *

"You were right. The view is great from up here." Ryder suddenly said, causing Vetra to pause in her climbing and turn around to admire the view.

The towering mountains of Kadara looming out as far as the eye could see, with clouds enveloping the tallest ones in seemingly random ways. The low valleys with pools of bright blue water surrounded by giant fungi.

Though the sights were great, Vetra had to admit that they were made all the better by Ryder's presence. Just being near him made her happy, especially when they weren't being actively shot at.

As nice as it was to spend time with Ryder outside of their day-to-day work, it wasn't the main reason that Vetra had scheduled this little climb. She needed to tell Ryder how she felt, and she wanted a nice secluded spot where nobody else would be around for miles.

The spot in particular that the two of them were climbing to was found thanks to a contact of hers back on Kadara Port. Apparently it has one hell of a view of a nearby valley, and seemed like the perfect spot where they could be alone and just talk free from the prying eyes or well wishing of the crew.

So Vetra had sent Ryder a message asking if he had any free time, and as luck would have it he had just finished up some business in the port.

So now the two were about halfway up a cliff face with nothing but their own grips and the jump-jets on their backs to prevent them from falling back to the ground below them.

Vetra took a quick glance over at Ryder who was still admiring the view, his left arm hanging freely while his right one gripped the rock tightly.

"Where not even to the top yet," Vetra said, prompting Ryder to turn his head towards her. "Come on, I'll race you."

"Alright Nyx. You're on." he said, a smirk clearly evident on his face.

"Hey! I know how you operate Scott Ryder. No jump-jets. We're doing it the old fashioned way." she said, feeling around for the next available foothold.

"Fine, fine. But what do I get if I win?"

"What would you like?" she replied, again noticing the flirtatious trill from her subharmonics.

Ryder hummed exaggeratedly and started climbing the cliff face once again.

"How about… the bad guy defeated, a magic sword… and the girl?"

Vetra felt her heart rate increase. If Scott knew why she had brought him here then he was just playing with her at this point.

"Well, good thing you're losing then. I don't have a magic sword."

The each continued their climbing, with the top of the cliff a good 15 feet still above them. Vetra however already had a good lead. As long as she kept up her pace, she'd beat Ryder no problem.

As the turian tested another foothold, she recognized the rising crescendo of a deep bass thrumming that could only be produced from a biotic field. It was a sound that Vetra knew well, thanks to her time spent in the field with Ryder.

She barely caught a glimpse of him as he pushed himself upwards with biotic force, sending Vetra a hearty laugh/cheer on his way up.

 _Oh, of course. Dammit Vetra! You should've known he'd do that!_

In truth, she couldn't bring herself to be even a little mad. That was Scott to a tee, always resourceful. And really, Vetra was just happy to be spending time with someone she cared about.

It wasn't long before Vetra reached the top herself, pulling herself over the edge to see Ryder lying down on his back with his hand on his chest and a pained smile on his face.

"Having fun?" she asked.

"Oh, plenty…" he replied. "I just love getting the wind knocked out of me…"

"Well, consider that your punishment for cheating."

"Never heard a rule against biotics, " he teased through a smug smile.

Vetra didn't respond, just crossed her arms and raised her brow plates at him.

"Alright, I'm sorry. But, as long as I'm lying down you might as well join me. The sky is something to see right now," Ryder said, patting a spot next to him.

Vetra obliged, moving to the right of him and lying down on her back. After some quick adjustments to her legs so that her spurs wouldn't get caught on the rocks if she tried to move, Vetra took a moment to reflect on how lucky she was to be right here.

She was lying only inches away from someone that she could say without a doubt was the most important person in her life, looking up at the clouds above. The sunlight was just dim enough so that stars could faintly be seen in the sky. Vetra idly wondered if any of them were the Milky Way.

If there was ever a time to ask him, it'd be now.

"Scott?" Vetra asked, turning her head to face him. She didn't even care about the affectionate subtones in her subharmonics.

"Yeah?" he replied quietly, still looking up at the sky.

"Is… Is this real?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think the sky's real."

"No, you idiot," Vetra said with a playful nudge from her left elbow. " _This._ How you are towards me. I've… worked with a lot of people. Most of them were assholes, but a few of them I could actually consider friends. But you're… different. It's like you… care, as more than just a friend.

Vetra brought the back of her hand to rub against his, and the contact sent a small shiver up her spine. She paused for a moment, and turned her head back to look at the sky.

"I don't mind if it's 'no'," she continued. "I just want to be sure. It gets messy otherwise."

"Messy? Sounds like you've got some experience there," Ryder said making no attempt to move his hand away.

"I… I misread a few things with a long term colleague. It didn't end well. Look, it's not important, I…" she turned her head to face him, and he did the same.

"I just want to be sure."

A small smile appeared on his face, his blue eyes never breaking from hers. She felt his hand slowly and gently wrap around hers, three fingers were interlocked with five.

"I do care about you," he said, still staring straight at her. "As _more_ than just a friend."

"Really?" she asked, unable to hide the small surprise in her voice. "I didn't want to assume. It just seemed so unlikely. Me, you. Turian, human. It's… well, not exactly common.

"Well sure it's not, but that shouldn't matter. I've considered you a friend since we first left the Nexus. It wasn't until recently that I realized how crazy I was about you."

"Crazy, huh? How crazy?"

"The kind of crazy where I've considered biotic charging a few turian guys that couldn't take their eyes off you back on the Nexus."

Vetra let out a small laugh. "I'm flattered - truly, but I'm also glad you didn't go around starting fistfights to prove how much you cared about me."

"I mean, there are other ways I could prove it to you," Ryder said, a devilish look in his eyes.

"Oh really? How so?" she asked, squeezing his hand a little tighter.

Ryder rolled his body over so that is was flushed with hers, with him now on his side. She saw as his left hand reach around and pulled her closer, his other one still gripping hers tightly.

Vetra felt almost frozen in place, yet her heart was pounding out of control as Scott moved his face closer to hers.

And then Ryder frowned.

"So, uh … I didn't think this through, too busy trying to be suave," he admitted. "How am I supposed to kiss you exactly?"


	12. Chapter 12: Other Half

Vertra glanced around the commons area of the Nexus as she walked. Smiles beamed from faces of every race, even from the angara who'd come to see what Heleus' newest inhabitants had to offer. People were eating actual food, not those compact nutrient bars that tasted like rotten varren. People were happy, relaxed. Free from having to worry about the station falling apart at any moment.

For the first time since they'd arrived in Andromeda, it seemed like the people here had hope, though that wasn't really the right term for it. The Initiative had hope when Ryder and the Hyperion had shown up. What they had now was more like… relief. They all knew that the Initiative had a serious chance of making Heleus a permanent home.

Even Vetra herself could feel it. She couldn't even remember the last time she wasn't constantly worrying about how every little thing on the Nexus was doing. Yet here she was, sitting on a bench in the commons area enjoying a quiet moment under the simulated skylight.

Of course, it wasn't just the progress of the Initiative that had Vetra feeling more at ease. Now that she and Scott had officially become an item, she felt more relaxed than ever before.

She had been a little worried at first. What if she and Ryder started to act different around each other? What if Scott never took her on ground missions anymore because he didn't want to put her at risk? What if they just didn't work together as a couple? What if it ruined their friendship?

Now Vetra couldn't help but laugh at these thoughts. The two of them still gave each other the same amount of shit as before, and now they'd occasionally throw in a flirtatious comment as well. When it came being on the ground, Vetra was still Scott's go-to. She provided a big loud distraction while Scott closed the distance and got to work. And as for how they worked as a couple, Vetra couldn't be happier. They just _worked_. True, it was a little awkward at first; getting past that initial barrier and learning just how their respective species showed affection hadn't been without incident (Scott had been quite startled the first time Vetra had nipped him lightly on the neck).

Since then they'd learned a few things. Vetra learned that their weren't any nerve endings in human hair, so trying to do anything stimulating there was pointless. Conversely, Scott learned that since turian females didn't have any plates around their stomach, that area was particularly vulnerable to that tickling thing that humans seemed to enjoy doing.

The only real issue they'd found was in regards to how everyone else in the Initiative would view their relationship. Scott was unquestionably the biggest name on the Nexus, and was usually the center of attention whenever they docked at the station. It would only be a matter of time before people found out about them. And yet, they couldn't quite seem to bring themselves to be that concerned about it. If anyone had any issues with Vetra's relationship to Scott, that was their own problem. Hell, Vetra had already told Sid about it and she went absolutely _wild_ with glee.

Vetra could also tell that Scott was happy, though she knew it wasn't just because of her. His sister Sara had woken up recently which had lifted a massive weight off his shoulders. The turian had meant to head over to the Hyperion with Scott at some point to be introduced, but the Pathfinder had been stuck dealing with Nexus leadership all day, and he'd barely had a chance to see anyone other than the higher ups. Plus, Vetra wasn't going to show up on the Hyperion and just say to Sara "Hi! I'm Vetra, I'm dating your brother." That would be just a little too awkward for her.

So for the time being she was content with just sitting in the commons, confident that if anything went wrong in at least the next ten minutes that someone else could handle it.

Her relaxation was cut short by a ping from her omni-tool, and she looked down to see a message from Kallo.

 _Vetra,_

 _Would you mind meeting me at Vortex for a moment? I'd like to discuss a few things regarding the security onboard the Tempest._

 _Kallo._

Vetra frowned and let out a small groan - so much for her brief moment of peace. In truth, she wasn't _really_ upset about it. The turian always jumped at the opportunity to decrease the likelihood of something going horribly wrong. It just so happened to fall at the one time she was trying not to worry about anything. It was a bit strange that Kallo wanted to meet at Vortex. The salarian wasn't known to be much of a drinker.

Vetra shook her head stood up from the bench, letting out a long exhale. She could ask Kallo about it once she was at the Vortex.

* * *

Vetra could feel the pounding of the loud music of the bar playing well before she went inside. Once she entered, she quickly scanned the area for Kallo but couldn't find him anywhere. She double checked, making sure that she hadn't mistaken him for a different salarian in the dimmer light.

Again she saw nothing.

 _Where the hell is he? If he wanted to meet me, he should have been here before sending me the message._ Vetra wondered.

The turian opened up her omni tool and checked the message again. It was indeed from Kallo and it did indeed tell her to head to Vortex.

She was starting to get suspicious, and quickly eyed the room one more time before checking to see if the address of the omni-tool that sent the message matched what Vetra had on file. Sure enough, it did.

As she stared at the message in question, another one appeared from Kallo.

 _Vetra,_

 _No, you're not going crazy. Just look up and come have a seat._

 _Kallo._

Her eyes moved upwards, and she was quick to spot the human woman staring at her, a drink in her hand and a smug smile on her face. A smile that was uncannily similar to that of a certain Pathfinder's.

 _Is… is that Sara?_

The human waved her over, and Vetra slowly started making her way towards the table. The turian had never seen Sara in person, she'd only had her described by Scott. From what she could tell, the description matched up pretty well. Same brown hair, except hers was longer and tied back into what Scott had called a ponytail. And tellingly, her eyes were also the same shade of blue as Scott's.

Vetra approached the table, her mandibles twitching nervously.

"Uh… Sara?" she asked?

"The very same. And you are Vetra."

"Yeah… so, you mind telling me how you got Kallo's omni-tool address?"

"Eh, I'll get to that in a bit. You mind taking a seat?" Sara asked, pointing at the seat across from her.

Vetra obliged, sitting down in the chair and placing her hands in her knees so that the other Ryder couldn't see her nervously twitching fingers.

"So," Sara began after a long awkward pause that the human ended with a quick swig from her drink. "I know you've probably got a lot of questions, and I know you asked one already, but like I said we'll get to that in a bit. I'd like to just tell you where I'm coming from first, if you don't mind me ranting for a bit."

"No, I suppose I-"

"Great!" Sara interrupted sternly. "So, my time in Andromeda has been pretty different from everyone else's as you might imagine. I got sent into a coma, and I could only talk to people through an implant in my head. I found out that my dad died, that my brother was the new Pathfinder, that most of the arks were missing, and that the golden worlds we were promised turned out to be a bunch of inhospitable rocks. Not great as far as things go. But the really interesting stuff happened after I woke up. It turned out that Scott made a really good Pathfinder. He found the arks, made the planets into places people could actually live, and even found a special someone… a _turian_ , if you can believe that."

"Uh huh…" Vetra replied nervously.

Sara paused, studying the obviously worried Vetra for a brief moment before letting out a small sigh.

"I'm sorry, is this too much?" Sara asked, her voice suddenly much brighter and less menacing. "This is probably too much."

"Um… what do you mean?"

" _This_. All the cloak and dagger. I thought it'd be… you know, intimidating, but now that we're in the middle of it… I'm not so sure. It seemed much better in my head."

"Well, uh… if it means anything to you, I think I'd prefer a normal one-on-one talk than… whatever this is." Vetra said.

"Fair enough. I'm Sara." she said, extending her free hand to give that hand-shake thing that humans did for introductions. Vetra extended her own hand and shook.

"Again, sorry about this whole thing. I guess I've spent too much time watching old spy vids. I'll let you actually ask some questions now that I'm not trying to be weird anymore."

"Alright." Vetra said, letting out a calm exhale. "So, Scott told me that you were still bedridden on the Hyperion. How exactly did you manage to get here?"

"Well, Doctor Harry did want me to stay back until he was sure I was stable, but screw that! I've been lying in that damn bed for months, and I want to finally see what all the fuss was about."

"Okay… so, did you just walk out or something?" Vetra asked.

"Pretty much. The doc put up a hell of a fuss, but I told him I'd be back later. It's not like I'm trying to leave the station with you guys or anything. Also, Scott would never let me leave unless they gave the all clear. Traitor."

"I mean, you can hardly fault him for looking out for you. I've got a sister too, and I guarantee if Sid was in your shoes, she wouldn't step foot off that ark until I was told she was good and able."

"Right, right. I know he cares... It's just..." Sara said, leaning back in her chair and letting out a loud groan. "Scott _always_ gets to do the fun stuff. Back in Sol, he got to guard the Charon Relay and actually get a hint of action every now and then. Meanwhile I had spend my time guarding the Mars Archives. Ugh, let me tell you, nothing interesting ever _has_ or _will_ happen there. It's boring as hell unless you're some crazy doctor who's really into Protheans."

"Noted. Now, my first question again. How the hell did you get Kallo's omni-tool address?" Vetra asked.

"Because that's what I do. Well, it's at least part of what I do. I was trained as an infiltrator after all, and I wouldn't be a very good one if I couldn't access information that others didn't want me to see. By the way, the whole thing about the security on the Tempest? Not a complete lie. It wasn't _that_ hard to get access to everyone on board. Honestly, I'm surprised someone hadn't done it sooner."

"Hmm… I assume that's how you found out about me and Scott?" the turian asked with raised brow plates.

"Kinda. There were already rumours, so one of the first things I did was look through the crew manifest and get a look at who exactly was palling around with my brother. One person in particular stood out to me; The angaran, Jaal, but that's just because I haven't had the chance to meet one of those guys yet. You were a close second though, let me say that."

"Really? What in particular stood out?" the turian asked as Sara downed more of her drink.

"Your background. Of all the people I expected my brother to fall in with, an ex-mercenary/smuggler was not one of them. What was more curious was… well, I found a list of sleeping arrangements. And let me say, you guys have a really interesting ship in that regard. Most sleep in the crew quarters, save for the krogan who's in the cargo bay, the angaran in the tech lab, the asari in the escape pod, and… the two crew members sleeping in the captain's quarters."

Vetra's mandibles twitched as she said that, a tinge of embarrassment running through her.

"Well, uh… we never thought anyone but the crew would see that… and they already knew about us, so…"

"Hey, hey. I'm not mad or anything, just curious. Frankly, it's about time he found someone he could lean on. Though, I wasn't expecting it to be an alien. An asari _maybe_ , but a turian? Didn't know he had a thing for sharp teeth. Or mandibles. Or natural plating."

"I mean, I don't really think he does. Or, at least he didn't before we were together. I know I never thought I'd get with a human before I left for Andromeda, but now… well, things change." Vetra said.

"I suppose they do." Sara said before taking a sip of her drink. "So, you guys done it yet?"

Vetra's eyes widened, and her mandibles once again began twitching.

"Umm… I don't know if that's really-"

"Hey, I'm not asking for details. This is my brother we're talking about here, I don't want to puke. All I'm looking for is a yes or no answer. Although, considering you guys are already sharing a room, I think I can take a guess at what the answer is." Sara said with a mischievous grin.

"Then, I guess you'd be right…" Vetra replied.

"Alright, so it seems like you two are pretty serious. So let me tell you something."

Sara put down her drink, reached under her seat and slammed an enormous (even folded), black sniper rifle onto the bar.

"If you ever do _anything_ to hurt him, I will track you down. And you'll never even know how badly you fucked up because you'll never hear the shot. Am I clear?"

Vetra froze, taken aback by the sudden return to the deadly seriousness Sara had led with. For a moment, Vetra began to wonder if Sara really was a passionless killer.

That was, until the humans stone-cold face broke into a smile and burst out laughing.

"Ha, ha! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Sara cried, wiping away a tear in her eye. "I know I said I was done with the weird shit, but I couldn't help myself. Your face was just too perfect!"

The turian relaxed, letting out a sigh and a small laugh of her own.

"You definitely are your brother's sister, you know that?" Vetra said.

"I mean, yeah." Sara said, a smug smile on her face."

Vetra wondered for a moment about how things could've gone differently. What if Scott's pod had been the one that malfunctioned? What if Sara had become the Pathfinder? If that had happened, it seemed like the Initiative would still have been in good hands. Sara clearly shared her brother's grit.

Before anything else could be said, a ping came from Sara's omni-tool.

"Ah, I'd better get going before the doc blows a gasket." she said, quickly downing the rest of her drink. "But one more thing before I go. I think I've proven to you that the security on the Tempest might need a little tweaking, yeah?"

"Possibly." Vetra replied.

"Well, how about you try convincing Scott to let me do some of that tweaking later? It'll at least help me feel like I'm doing something while I'm cooped up on this station."

"I mean, I can't guarantee anything, but I can give it a shot."

"Great! And as a sign of good faith, I promise not to read through any of your and Scott's private messages… anymore."

"Anymore?" Vetra asked with her arms crossed.

"What? I just got a little curious! I mean, how else would I have figured out about how sensitive that area is for turians…"

"Okay, you know what? Forget I asked anything." Vetra stammered defensively

"Can do." Sara said as she stood from her seat. "It was nice meeting you, Vetra. You seem alright. Oh, and if Scott ever wants to introduce us, this conversation never happened."

"Agreed." Vetra replied as the human moved over to her and gave her a soft pat on the shoulder.

As Sara moved towards the door, Vetra suddenly remembered her bet with Scott.

"Sara! Hold up for a second." she said, getting up from her chair to face the elder Ryder sibling. "Scott and I have this bet going on… you wouldn't happen to have any embarrassing stories about him, would you?"

An eerily familiar smile appeared on Sara's face

"Oh man, where should I even start?"


	13. Chapter 13: Bait and Switch

It had only been a few days since Vetra had met Sara, and for almost the entire time the turian had been thinking about how she was going to present the wealth of embarrassing information to Scott. After getting all of Scott's dirty laundry from Sara, (and getting introduced to her a second time) Vetra's first thought had been to rush straight to him and rub his nose in it.

But Vetra knew that it payed to be patient and plan things out thoroughly. After all, how she presented the information mattered as much (if not more) than the information itself. If she had just walked up to Scott outright and told him what she knew, none of it would be nearly as impactful.

And with the things she'd learned, she wanted it to be as impactful as possible.

So Vetra bided her time and thought things through. The Tempest and crew had left the Nexus on their way to Havarl to assist the angara with the Roekaar. The trip gave Vetra plenty of time to decide how she wanted to play things out.

As Vetra stood outside of Scott's quarters, (now technically hers as well) she let out a long contented sigh. This was going to be _good_.

The turian opened the door and saw Scott relaxed on the couch, his feet on the table and a datapad in hand. His head turned to face her, giving her a bright smile and a nod.

"Hey," he said, moving his focus back to the datapad. "Where've you been? I was getting lonely in here."

"Well, we can't all sleep and work in the same room, you know." Vetra replied.

"I mean, you could. If you really wanted to." he said, giving her a brief glance and a smirk.

"Yes, I _could_. But if I did, neither of us would ever end up getting any work done."

Scott let out a small laugh. "Fair enough."

Vetra began to move slowly towards Scott, who quirked his brow at the mischievous grin Vetra wore as she advanced towards him.

"So… just thought I'd let you know. I had a little... chat with Sara before we left." Vetra said. "She had some interesting things to say about you."

"Oh did she? They wouldn't happen to have anything to do with a little wager we started, would it?" he asked with some amusement.

"They might," Vetra admitted, her grin widening.

"Fantastic," he said, putting the holopad down on the table and moving his feet to the floor. "So, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say she told you more than a few stories, yeah?"

"It's certainly a possibility."

"Well, let me remind you that those won't add up or anything. You have to choose the one you think is the worst of them all."

"I'm quite aware, Scott."

"Good. So, let me guess which embarrassing moment of mine you're gonna try to win this thing with, because I seriously doubt any of them are worse than being Omega's worst table dancer for an evening."

"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" she said."

"I guess we will. So… is it the time I got stood up before graduation?"

"Nope. Not embarrassing enough, just… sad. If only that girl knew what she was missing."

"You won't see me complaining about it." he said before pensively rubbing his chin. "Let's see, what else… ah! The time I wet myself in class when I was 10?"

"Please. Way too easy. Everyone has an embarrassing story from when they were a kid."

Again, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Alright… the time mom and dad found a Fornax mag hidden in my room?"

Vetra let out a snicker. "Actually, Sara didn't tell me about that one, so…"

"Just, uh… forget I said that then." Scott quickly stammered, his cheeks beginning to redden, which Vetra knew was a way humans showed embarrassment.

"Let me just speed things along here, Scott." Vetra said, crossing her arms and forming her mandibles into an even bigger grin. "It wasn't the time you rented a car and trashed it a day later, it wasn't the time you were so drunk that you thought an elcor was mocking your voice, and it certainly wasn't the time where you let your barriers down at the end up an op only to get shot right in the ass. Though, that last one does explain the scar…"

Scott's face looked of pure confusion. Vetra could tell he had no idea the kind of dirt his sister had on him.

"Seriously? None of those? Well, what is it then?" Scott asked.

Vetra just let out a light chuckle in response

"Why don't you head up to the meeting room and see what the rest of the crew is up to?"

"The meeting room? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, it's nothing really…"

She had him now, right where she wanted.

"Vetra seriously, what's going on?"

And now she played her hand.

"It's fine, don't worry! I just maybe showed them some security cam footage of a certain date you may have gone on before you left the Milky Way."

"Date? What're you… Oh no…" he gasped, his eyes widened as everything suddenly clicked in his mind.

Scott immediately bolted out of the room, prompting Vetra to let out a hearty laugh as she heard him frantically scrambling up the ladder to the mid-deck of the ship. She followed close behind, looking on as Scott reached the research room and froze in horror at the sight of his laughing crewmates above him, all huddled around a holovid playing on the central console of the meeting room.

He recovered quickly and rushed up to join the rest of the crew. The assembled crew quieted for a brief moment as they spotted him. It didn't last long, as they all burst out laughing and turned their attention back to the vid, which currently showed a very uncomfortable looking Scott Ryder sitting across from a Hanar at a very fancy looking restaurant somewhere on the Citadel.

"There he is! Glad to see you could join us kid, ha ha!" Drack said, moving towards the Pathfinder and giving him a strong shove in the shoulder.

Scott didn't respond but just stared blankly at the vid in front of him. Past Scott was visibly squirming in his seat as the hanar wrapped one of it's tentacles around his hand.

"I do hope you took proper precautions, Ryder. You do realize that hanar secrete a natural toxin through their skin, right?" Lexi asked, her voice filled with genuine concern.

"Hold it for a bit, doc." Vetra said as she strode up, grabbing the attention of everyone in the meeting room. "For anyone here who still isn't quite sure what the hell you're looking at, let me get you caught up to speed. Before our resident Pathfinder joined the Initiative he was a lonely young Alliance soldier guarding the Charon relay, with those darn military regulations preventing any fraternization. However, as resourceful as always, Scott met a special someone on the extranet through a dating site. And lucky me, I happen to have a copy of his profile!"

A screen-grab suddenly appeared on the central console. The page banner read " _Mass Affection: The galaxy's premiere online dating service."_ and below it was a picture of Scott to go along with his profile.

"As you can see here, this showed all the information a would-be suitor would want to know about Scott. I'll save you from the rather cheesy personal description and skip straight to this: Preferences: Human, female. Note the human part in particular."

"Well, I'm pretty sure at least one of those has changed since then." Peebee joked.

The crew all let out a laugh and Vetra paused briefly to look at Ryder. His cheeks had already turned red, but she also notice the small quirk of a smile just beginning to tug at his mouth. Vetra already knew that Scott didn't care if he was being laughed with or laughed at, he just liked making people laugh. She loved his sense of humor, and was glad he had it - otherwise this whole stunt would have blown up in her face.

"Now, you can all thank the great Sara Ryder for her vigilance in noticing this information way back then. Sara - or as she was known by Scott "Hanah Rodriguez" - was one of the first people to send him a message. As far as he knew, she was a human girl who worked at the Mars archives, the same place Sara was assigned. Of course, Scott asked if Sarah knew this dashing young lady, and in a stroke of good luck it turned out that she did! She kept the charade up for almost three months, even going so far as to fool him with a few voice calls."

"Ryder, how do you not recognize your own sister's voice?" Cora asked, grinning broadly.

"She had a voice modulator on! I seriously couldn't tell!" Scott protested.

Vetra let out a snicker and quickly continued. "Eventually, Scott managed to secure himself a bit of shore leave, and decided to head to the Citadel to meet "Hanah" face to face. Sara knew of this, due to the fact that she of course _was_ Hanah. Now, the best part of this whole thing is what she did next."

Scott groaned and covered his face with his hands.

"As I said, Sara was assigned to guard the Mars archives," Vetra continued, "and just so happened to have made friends with a hanar researcher while she was there - you all know how they are with Protheans. As luck would also have it, this particular hanar had one hell of a human fetish. Apparently this hanar thought humanity was uplifted by the 'Enkindlers' too, if you can believe it … Anyway, it wasn't hard for Sarah to convince the hanar to head to the Citadel and meet up with Scott. What you are looking at here is the result of all that."

As she finished, the security footage showed one of the Hanar's tentacles slip under the table, causing Ryder to jump in his chair a few seconds later. The crew (except for a mildly confused Jaal) laughed in unison.

"Ok Ryder, you've got to tell me ..." Gil said once the laughter had ebbed. "How the hell did you not go running out of their as soon as you figured out what was going on?"

Scott looked sheepish for a moment.

"Well, if I'm gonna be honest, I paid a lot of credits for reservations at that place, and I really didn't want it to go to waist."

"Ryder," Jaal began. "Liam said what was happening to you in this vid was called being "catfished", but when I inquired further he refused to explain. What is a catfish? Is it that thing attempting to grab you with one of its appendages?"

"Eh, don't worry about it Jaal. It's not important. My sister just played a prank on me."

"So, it was an attempt at humor? Strange ... Human humor seems to be very different from ours," he said and turned his attention back to the vid.

" _This one suggests that we… enkindle this somewhere more private..."_ The hanar in the vid said, causing an uproar from the crew.

"So Ryder, did you follow through or did you leave the poor… thing hanging?" Liam asked, earning a snort from Scott.

"No. Dinner was about as far as I was willing to take it."

"What a heartbreaker," Suvi chided playfully.

It wasn't long before the vid ended, and the rest of the crew eventually dispersed back to their respective stations, but not before sending a few more jabs Scott's way. Eventually, Vetra was alone with Ryder.

"So…" Vetra began. "Did I win?"

"Well, you did kinda cheat by showing the rest of the crew." Scott replied.

"Oh, yes. And you're certainly one to lecture me about cheating."

"When have I ever cheated?"

"Our contest on Elaadin? The cliffs on Kadara?" Vetra said with raised brow plates.

"...well that hardly counts…" he muttered.

Vetra sent him a cold stare.

"Alright, alright. The nomad is yours whenever you want it. At least I had the decency not to tell everyone else about _your_ little secret."

"That's because you're too soft. Gotta go for the hard hits when you can. No mercy."

"Right, right," he said, slowly moving over to Vetra. He leaning on her shoulder in a familiar - and increasingly common - display of intimacy."You're too damn clever by half, Vetra."

The two were quiet for a moment. Vetra enjoyed the warmth that radiated off of Scott, physically and emotionally.

Finally she had to ask.

"So, you really didn't expect Sara to tell me about that one? I mean, she had some good dirt on you, but _that_ was something else."

"Well, uh… there was kind of a… caveat to who she could tell…" Ryder began.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She was pretty quick to make fun of me for it, and I couldn't let that story get back to the guys in Sol, so I managed to convince her to only tell …" Ryder coughed in embarrassment. "My future wife."

Vetra turned her head towards Ryder, only to see him doing the same to her. Vetra's mandibles curved into a smile.

"Well, I hate to break it to your sister, but we're not married," she said.

"Indeed. We are not." Scott said with a grin.

"But, after all this is over… who knows?" Vetra said, leaning in and touching Scott's forehead to hers

"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Scott whispered, moving his head and planting a small kiss on her nose plates.

"I guess we will."

They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment before Ryder asked, "So, uh … that's not a no, right?"

Vetra laughed.


	14. Chapter 14: Heart to Heart

Vetra leaned back, a bottle of turian brandy pressed to her lip plates as she gulped down the last of the liquid fire. Once it was gone, she placed the bottle back onto the bartop with a firm _clunk_ and let out a soft sigh. The throbbing, deep bass of the omnipresent music in the Vortex was was beginning to fade into the background, replaced with a growing warmth and fuzziness. She supposed this meant the brandy was working, but annoyingly she could still think straight. And after what happened on Havarl … what _almost_ happened, Vetra just wanted a brief moment where she _wasn't_ thinking about it.

They'd arrived at Havarl intending to deal with the Roekaar; either by talking things out and coming to a diplomatic solution, or by shooting the ones that didn't want to. To her surprise, a decent amount of them stood down and actually started to sort out their differences with the rest of the angara. Jaal proved to be invaluable, as he was able to give personal accounts of his experiences with Andromeda's newest inhabitants.

Unfortunately, not everyone was so willing to make peace. Some of the groups they encountered opened fire as soon as they saw Ryder.

Vetra, Ryder, Jaal, and a few angaran soldiers had been moving through the jungles of Havarl on their way to a known Roekaar outpost in hopes of making peace. That idea went out the window as soon as bullets started whizzing past them from the trees.

Since she had been on point, the Roekaar had focused heavy fire on Vetra specifically. Even her custom made shield modulator came close to dropping, and she quickly found herself pinned behind a tree unable to move. She could see two Roekaar flanking to either side of her, and knew pretty soon she'd have no cover. Vetra had felt a dread certainty in the depths of her stomach that she wasn't going to get out of this.

But then Scott charged forward into the open, attempting to ease some of the pressure off her. It worked, but too well. The sustained fire of the Roekaar ate up his barriers in seconds.

Firing behind him, Ryder had made a mad dash towards his squad. Vetra had repositioned back to Jaal, and the two immediately laid down covering fire. Still, the Roekaar managed to put a few shots into Ryder's back, and Vetra's heart nearly stopped each time one landed. She knew all it took was for one of those shot to land in just the right place to end Scott perminentally. The sickening crack of a slug embedding itself into Ryder's chestplate continued to ring in Vetra's mind as clearly as though she were hearing it for the first time.

She thanked the Spirits that his armor did it's job, letting him walk away with only some heavy bruising and a couple cracked ribs from the impact. But Vetra knew that was dumb, stupid luck; his injuries could've been much more severe, even fatal. Vetra had practically locked Scott in their room the entire trip back to the Nexus fussing over him.

As bad as the fear of dying had been in the moment, the fear of losing Ryder was ...

Vetra let out a groan. The turian wasn't sure whether she'd have to get another bottle or not. She could definitely feel the one she had just downed, as well as the previous one, but wasn't sure if it was enough. She had always been able to handle her alcohol, which in this case was turning out to be damned annoying.

Vetra hated it when she wasn't in control, and the ambush on Havarl was so far out of her hands she may as well have been back in the Milky Way for all the good she'd done Ryder.

" _I suppose it isn't the worst thing I've seen him go through…"_ she thought. " _At least his heart wasn't literally stopped …"_

Vetra tilted the empty bottle of brandy in the vain hope that any remained.

" _Spirits, you just had to go thinking about that, didn't you Vetra?"_

The turian quickly waved down the asari bartender and ordered another drink. Now that Vetra had reminded herself about what had happened to Scott aboard that Kett flagship, she would have to drink even more, stagger back to the ship, and hope that she didn't remember any of it when she woke up.

She had tried a lot to drown out that specific memory ever since she and Scott had become an item. Seeing your best friend clinically die and get brought back to life right in front of your eyes was something anyone would rather not think about all that often. If that same thing happened to them now, happened to her mate? Vetra knew she wouldn't be able to hold it together.

The thing that terrified Vetra most wasn't the fact that Ryder's heart had been stopped. In their line of work, death was always a possibility. That didn't mean she wasn't scared of it, but she at least knew that it could always happen. What really made Vetra afraid was the situation in which he died. Not in the heat of the battle, and not in a noble sacrifice to save anyone. He was killed by the AI living inside his head so that he might have a chance at escaping before the Kett started experimenting on them.

Of course, he was only dead for a few seconds before sprouting up with a smug grin and exclaiming that he'd had enough of dying, but for Vetra those few seconds felt like an eternity of her pleading in her mind for him to stand up, to move, to do _anything_.

SAM had access to a permanent off switch to Scott. It could stop his heart at any moment and there's nothing she, nor anyone in the galaxy could do to stop it.

Vetra heaved another chug down the hatch, letting her tongue burn until the bottle was almost a third empty. She still certainly didn't feel drunk. A little tipsy at worst, but certainly not enebriated enough for her liking.

Fear for a loved one sobers like nothing in the universe.

As Vetra prepped another swig, her mind's eye turned again to Scott. She wished he could be there with her so that they could enjoy a few drinks together before stumbling back to the Tempest and enjoy some alone time. Being with Scott helped Vetra more than any bottle of brandy ever could.

But Scott was the Pathfinder. And now more than ever, Ryder routinely found himself busy whenever he was on the Nexus, giving him very little time to spend with his favorite turian. Not that she wasn't ever busy herself, but not nearly to the same degree as he was.

If Scott _was_ here with her, he'd make some reasurances about how he's fine, make a few terrible jokes while trying to annoy her, and ultimately tell her not to worry about it. Vetra wished it was that easy. She had never been one to let things get to her before, save for any time Sid had ever gotten herself into trouble. She supposed that it made sense once she thought about it; Scott and Sid were the two most important people in her life. There was nothing she wouldn't give up or do for them.

But the more she thought about it, the more solace she sought in the bottom of a bottle, and the more she found her fears crystallizing around SAM. Vetra was fairly confident that the AI was on their side … fairly., The turian had never seen a reason to mistrust SAM, but it was hard to forget how easily it had killed Ryder. As unsettling as that was, it wasn't like SAM hadn't had a good reason for it. If it _hadn't_ killed Scott, then Vetra and the Pathfinder would've been trapped in the containment field with no hope of getting out. And nobody would have been alive afterwards.

Vetra stared down at the nearly bottle in hand, contemplating taking another sip. She _could_ keep spending more of her credits on cheap brandy while trying to drown out any recent memories of hardship, or she could actually confront the source of her fear. That's what Scott would have told her to do, wasn't it?

After a brief moment of thought, Vetra put the bottle down on the bar and got up from her seat. She'd pay the tab later. For now, she had to go have a chat with the AI inside her boyfriend's head.

* * *

Vetra had seldom gone aboard the Hyperion; she could count the number of times she had been to the ark on one hand - one turian hand, no less - and each of those times she had been with Scott. This would be her first solo visit.

For the average person it would be exorbitantly difficult to get on board the Hyperion if you weren't one of the human's that came on the ark in the first place, and it would be next to impossible to get access to the SAM core. Luckily, none of that was a problem for Vetra. As a member of the Pathfinder's crew, she could get to most places on the Nexus without any trouble, and that extended to any docked arks. The human guards on the Hyperion most likely found it a little odd that a turian was requesting to go aboard the human ark, but since she worked for the _human_ Pathfinder there was little they could do to get in Vetra's way. And, if the suppressed grin on one of the guard's face was any indication, rumors of Ryder and Vetra's relationship were starting to circulate.

If Vetra remembered correctly, the SAM node was just off the habitation deck that lead up to the main bridge of the ark. After a bit of walking, Vetra found the place she was looking for.

The doors to the SAM node stayed closed as she approached, and a panel on the nearby wall prompted her to request access. Before the turian could even bring up her omni-tool to input the proper security protocols, the voice of SAM spoke from the panel.

"Welcome Ms. Nyx. This is an unexpected visit," the AI said.

"Yeah. I was just… thinking about a few things and wanted to talk to you about it. If you don't mind."

"You are a valued member of the Pathfinder's crew Vetra, and Ryder trusts you extensively. I will of course allow you access."

The doors to the SAM node opened, revealing the large, dark chamber which held one of the Initiative's most valuable assets. A walkway lead out to reveal a large enclosed class cylinder which held SAM itself.

This was the first time Vetra had ever seen SAM's hardware and she found herself slightly awed at the blue matrix of particles that swirled around in a mostly circular shape inside the central chamber. The two of them had communicated constantly over comms while on mission and aboard the Tempest, but their interactions were always related to work. And since this had to do with SAM's relationship to Scott, Vetra didn't' feel right talking about something so intimate over comms.

"May I ask why you are here, Ms. Nyx? An in person visit is highly irregular for anyone but the Pathfinder," SAM's synthesized voice was free from emotion, calm and passive.

"I know, but I had a few things on my mind I wanted to ask you."

"Do they have to do with the Pathfinder?" SAM asked.

Vetra let out a huff. "Yep, you'd be right. How'd you know?"

"You are engaged in a romantic relationship with an individual that has an artificial intelligence permanently connected to his nervous system, endocrine functions, and exteroceptive senses. It is likely that any questions you have will concern Scott's safety, of which I share a mutual interest. I will answer them to the best of my ability."

"Good. I assume you remember when you stopped Scott's heart way back?" Vetra asked.

"Indeed. The event has been noted in my data logs in case a similar incident occurs in the future."

"Well, seeing him die in front of me wasn't very… pleasant. And after what happened on Havarl earlier, it's been on my mind a lot."

"Understandable. Turians feel a strong emotional attachment to those they are mated to. Your concerns are only natural," SAM said.

"So, I guess the main thing I want to know is this; How important is Scott to you?"

"Extremely. Without him the future of the Initiative would be at risk, and as such-"

"No, no." Vetra suddenly interrupted. "I'm not talking about how important he is to the Initiative or how much he's done to make Heleus livable. I'm asking what he means to _you_ specifically. What reasons do you have to make sure he makes it through all this?"

To Vetra's surprise, SAM didn't respond immediately. Usually the AI responded to any question almost instantly, but this time it fell silent. There was a flurry of movement in the amorphous blue lights in SAM's core.

"Uh… SAM?" she asked.

"One moment. I am processing relevant data to be able to formulate an adequate response," the AI resonded before pausing for several more seconds. "Complete. Are you aware of how Scott came to be the Pathfinder?"

"Uhh, yeah. His dad made him Pathfinder just before he died. What exactly does this have to do with my question?"

"I will get to that in a moment. Yes, his father made him the Pathfinder to save Scott's life. His helmet had been cracked from an impact and he began to breath Habitat 7s toxic atmosphere. By tying me into his nervous system, I could combat the deleterious effects of the atmosphere. It was only thanks to Alec that Scott survived the exposure."

"I… I didn't know that…" Vetra said, her voice much softer after hearing this new information.

"Scott was the second organic to link his implant directly to me without safeguards, giving me a direct neurological link to him. He felt great grief at the loss of his father and fear at the state of his sister, but suppressed it due to his new duty as Pathfinder. When he arrived at the Nexus, he felt a sense of dread as he discovered the shape of the Initiative, but was still determined to do his best to help the Initiative thrive. He saw no alternative."

"I see. Was it… strange for you? Having your creator gone and suddenly linked to a new person?"

"Yes. When Alec died, I did not feel the same sense of grief organics do. I was upset, but not at the same level as organics. But when I was linked to Scott I was able to feel it - the regret, the pain, the wishing that things had gone different. It was an entirely new sensation for me." SAM said.

"Really? I didn't even know you could… feel anything." Vetra said.

"This is in part a side effect of the link. When Scott feels something, be it emotional or physical, I feel it too. In fact, since we are directly linked there is nothing I can do to _not_ feel what Ryder does. . Although I can't truly feel these sensations in the same way as an organic, I experience them just as intimately. And through Ryder, I can understand what these sensations are like, and how organics react to them."

"So, you're learning to understand emotions by … feeling them through Ryder?"

"Yes, as was Alec's vision. He felt that the thing that set artificial intelligence apart from organic life was the inability for either to understand and reconcile the perspectives of the other. Without this understanding it was not possible for peaceful coexistence to occur between synthetic and organic life. Through Alec's experience, I began to understand what life was like for organics."

"That's … I had no idea."

"It is not common knowledge. I am very glad to have this opportunity - organic experience is so unique, so unlike anything else in the universe. Chaotic, ugly, and strikingly beautiful. I would not give up the ability to experience it through Ryder for anything."

There was another flicker of activity as SAM paused for a moment.

"Of all the emotions and pain he has felt since we were linked, your relationship with Scott has proved to be the most interesting to me."

"What? Why?"

"Because it contradicted previous information. When I was created, Alec Ryder was already in a romantic relationship with his wife, Ellen. He developed me, while Ellen developed the implants that were to be worn by the Pathfinders and their crew. They tested the implant on Alec, and I felt clearly that he deeply cared for his wife. But, Alec's relationship with Ellen existed long before I was created. I did not get to experience the gradual build up in a relationship."

"And so you got to experience that with Scott and I?" Vetra asked.

"Correct. As previously stated, it contradicted second hand information I had received early in my creation. In an effort to help me understand organics, Alec uploaded over a century's worth of entertainment: literature, films, serial programmes from various races, anything he could think of to help me understand organic culture. What many of those pieces led me to believe about courtship was that when two organics looked at each other for the first time, they instantaneously knew if they were meant to be together. Your relationship with Scott taught me otherwise. When you and Scott first met, he did not experience any of the symptoms of seeing a romantic interest. His heart rate remained constant, there was no dilation of the irises, and the love theme to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet did not begin to play."

"The theme to what?"

"A common cliche in human culture. In any event, there were no indications that suggested an emotional or physical attraction."

"Yeah, neither of us were really interested in each other at that point. We just wanted to get out there and fix things." Vetra said.

"Scott shared that sentiment. He thought of you as something of a mystery, and also saw you as a useful ally and a determined individual, but not a possible romantic interest. That changed over the next several months. As the two of you grew closer, he began to notice increasingly positive traits in you, eventually he realized that he had a romantic interest in you."

"Huh… when was that exactly?" Vetra asked, now curious about exactly when Scott started having feelings for her.

"Approximately a month before your encounter with the exiles on H-047c. He was unsuccessfully attempting to fall asleep and idley wished that you were there with him. Around three days after this event, he began searching for turian customs pertaining to courtship, and two days later began searching for explicit images of-"

"Okay, okay, I don't need to hear any more." Vetra quickly said, her mandibles flexing outwards as she spoke. It wasn't like Vetra _hadn't_ done something similar, but she didn't need to hear it from SAM.

"To put it simply, your relationship with Scott was a great insight on how organics interact with those they love. An insight that no AI has ever known. It would be like trying to describe the color red to someone who has been blind their entire life. You could describe objective attributes like a band of photon wavelengths or describe subjective feelings the color reminds you of such as the warmth of a fire, but in the end, the color red can never be accurately described. To fully understand something, you must experience it. That is the gift that Alec gave me, the ability to feel - the potential to truly understand. It sets me apart from every AI that has ever existed, and I will cherish it for the rest of my existence."

Vetra was at a loss for words. These revelations, the trust SAM was putting in her - none of this was what she had expected to find.

"But to answer your initial question, Ryder is intimately a part of me. He is my eyes and ears beyond this chamber. My gateway to a world of experience and understanding that is more fascinating, enriching, and wonderful than anything I have encountered. Were it not for him, I could not experience anything that organics normally do. Scott has been of tremendous help in answering many question I have had about organics, their lives, their choices, and their emotions.I consider him a close personal friend, and I believe he feels the same."

"So, when you stopped his heart…"

"I did it knowing full well that had I failed to resuscitate him, that I would not only have lost the ability to experience anything, but I would be losing a dear friend."

"Okay…" Vetra said, releasing a long sigh of relief and suddenly feeling much more at peace than before. "I think that answers a lot of my questions. Thanks for the help, SAM."

"Happy to be of assistance, Ms. Nyx." the AI said.

Vetra turned and began walking towards the exit, before she heard SAM's synthetic voice speak up once again

"Vetra, Scott just finished his last meeting with Nexus leadership. He has nothing scheduled for the remainder of the evening, and I believe he is hoping to find you aboard the Tempest. Additionally, I am detecting increased brain activity in the hypothalamus and ventral striatum, indicating increased levels of sexual excitement."

Vetra's mandibles once again stretched outwards, her embarrassment evident.

"Uh, thank you SAM, that'll be enough!"


	15. Chapter 15: High Stakes Scenario

If it hadn't been for the mercenaries, pirates, exiles, and the countless thugs who wouldn't hesitate to gun you down if you so much as looked at them funny, Kadara port would have actually been a pretty nice place. The tall mountains and winding valleys were an incredible sight to behold, and Vetra found herself fondly reminiscing over her moment out on the cliffs with Scott.

It seemed like mere days had past since they first revealed their feeling for each other, but in truth it been almost three months since then. Vetra let out a long, slow sigh as her mind recalled how many attempts it had taken before Scott had finally figured out how to kiss her.

Her daydreaming didn't last long, as her thoughts were interrupted by two humans suddenly launching into a shouting match nearby. They were arguing over something about who owed whom payment and each of them looked about ready to come to blows.

 _Not my problem._ Vetra thought before getting up from the railing she was leaning on, turning her thoughts towards facing the task at hand.

Her target for the moment: Drack. The old krogan was apparently at a bar nearby - one of the nicer ones too if she recalled correctly (though calling anything other than the view on Kadara 'nice' was pushing it.)

Vetra would have preferred going to this meetup alone, but she knew better than to go walking into a camp full of thugs without someone to watch your back. Normally, she'd go to Scott and ask him for help with this deal. However, he wasn't exactly available to do that at the moment.

Scott had finally managed to negotiate the placement of an Initiative outpost on Kadara, thanks to some help from "The Charlatan," and was in the process of getting things set up there. It was a call to celebrate for the Initiative, especially now that the planets water was safe to drink, but for Vetra it meant that her mate wasn't around to help her out right now.

So, she had to go for the next most intimidating person on the Tempest; Drack, figuring that a two-ton wall of battlescarred krogan would do in a pinch.

Vetra made a brisk pace through the port, cautiously taking the occasional glance over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't about to get jumped. It was broad daylight and there were dozens of bystanders in her immediate vicinity, but Vetra had been on more places like this than she cared to count. The view was much better here than on Omega, but the danger was just the same. Vetra knew to watch her back.

The turian eventually found her way to the bar, a place called Kralla's Song. She quickly scanned the place, finding the familiar krogan figure with bones strapped to his armor sitting at the bar. Even for a krogan, Drack was easy to spot.

She walked up behind the krogan and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. Drack spun quickly, but stayed the punch he'd readied when recognized Vetra.

"I'll be honest Drack, I'm surprised they even let you back in this place after that little stunt you pulled with Ryder," Vetra said before taking the seat to his right.

"Heh. Over the years I've learned that there are two things you can use to get where you're not wanted. Krogan muscle, and credits. I have both," Drack said, pointing to the drink in his hand before downing the rest of the glass.

"Fair. But for future reference, try not to drag Scott into any more bar fights, alright?"

"Heh heh. You worried about the kid's safety?"

"Hell no, I'm trying to save the thugs of Kardara from getting their asses kicked."

The two of them shared a brief chuckle before Drack spoke up again.

"So, what'd you want anyway? I thought you'd be helping Ryder with that new outpost. What're they calling it again?"

"Ditaeon, and I _would_ be helping him were it not for a little… business I need to attend to," Vetra said, slightly lowering her voice.

" _Business_ , eh? For you, that could mean anything. What'd ya need ?" the krogan asked.

"Need some help acquiring a package. High priority item. Supposed to pick it up from a camp of exiles a few clicks to the north."

"Huh. What's so special about this that we need to get if from exiles?"

Vetra glanced around the bar, making sure that nobody was listening in.

"Just know this. The Pathfinder specifically requested that I get it, and that it's _very_ valuable. We're probably not the only ones looking for something like it."

"Hmm, that good huh…? We gonna have to shoot anyone for it?" Drack asked.

"You _do_ remember what planet we're on, don't you?" Vetra replied coyly.

A broad, toothy smile appeared on the old krogan's face and he laughed heartily.

"I'm in."

* * *

Even though the Nomad was an all-terrain vehicle, capable of traversing anything short of a ninety degree incline, that didn't mean that the ride along the way would be smooth. Even the mighty suspension of the machine could not overcome the the fact that Vetra was still new to driving it, which made for a very bumpy ride.

Vetra glanced briefly to her right where Drack was crammed into the Nomad's passenger seat. The Nomad was designed to seat any council race comfortably, but seeing as how Drack was a krogan, it made it a little hard for him to fit inside in any comfortable manner. He could barely fit in the seat, and the safety harness couldn't even begin to cover him. As Vetra turned her attention back to the road, the Nomad's left front wheel went right over a large rock, causing the vehicle to violently rock back and forth before settling back on the ground.

"You know, I'm starting to think there's a reason the kid never let you drive this thing before." Drack grunted.

"Ryder was able to get a lot of practice with it before getting to the planet with giant mountains in the way. I haven't had a whole lot of time to get a feel for it yet."

"Uh huh. You sure the Pathfinder's gonna be okay with you taking this out?"

"He doesn't have a choice. I won a bet." Vetra replied, unable and unwilling to prevent a smug trill from suffusing her subharmonics.

"Right. Heh, I bet even if you had lost that thing he would've let you take it. Just would've had to be… _persuasive_ …"

"Excuse me?" Vetra asked.

"You know, flash your mandibles at him or whatever the hell it is you do to get him going."

"I'm not even gonna dignify that with a response." Vetra huffed, causing Drack to let out a hearty chuckle.

Of all the Tempest's crew, Drack had been the one to tease Vetra the most about her relationship to Scott. Of course, that didn't mean the old krogan didn't care. On the contrary, Vetra found that Drack was by far the most supportive and protective of the two. The old krogran had even told Scott that if he ever did anything to hurt Vetra, then he'd have hell to answer to. As she and Ryder both knew, when Drack was mad, hell was a pretty appropriate description of the carnage that often followed.

Drack spoke up again, "So, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Yeah? What's that?" Vetra replied, her eyes not moving from the dirt path ahead of her.

"You and the kid. What's your thing?"

"Um… what?"

"Your thing. You're both young, got all your moving parts in order. You eventually figure out that you both really like doing _something_. I'm just asking what that something is."

She turned her head towards Drack, a brow plate raised in confusion.

"Really?" she said, not turning away from the krogan.

"What? Every couple has one. I'm just wondering."

The turian scoffed and turned back to the winding mountain path.

"We don't have a _thing_ , whatever that means."

"Oh, come on. How long have we known each other?" Drack asked, giving her shoulder a light shove.

Vetra just stared forward, focusing on getting to the Exile camp and hoping that Drack would drop his questioning.

"Alright," the krogan eventually said, letting out a huff. "Suit yourself. But if you're not gonna tell me about your thing, I might as well tell you about how me and Kesh's grandma used to take ten gallons of ryncol, a combat knife, a freshly killed varren and-"

"Okay, okay, I _really_ don't want to know, Drack," Vetra quickly stammered.

"So, just tell me. You don't need to go into details. I'm just wondering what weird shit kids are doing these days."

Vetra stayed quiet for several seconds, a low growl building in her throat before she let out a sigh.

"Translators," she said.

"Huh?" Drack replied.

"Our translators. Sometimes we turn them off when we… yeah."

"Really? When'd you figure that out?"

"I thought you didn't need the details," she growled.

"I don't. Doesn't mean I can't ask," the krogan said with a toothy grin.

Another sigh escaped Vetra.

"One night, my translator glitched when we were talking, I heard what he _actually_ sounded like and… I don't know, I just thought we'd try it out." Vetra said, mandibles flicking with embarrassment.

"There. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Drack said.

"Forgive me for not wanting to discuss the more private details of my relationship with Scott."

"I accept your apology," the krogan said, letting out a hearty laugh. "Though now you've got me curious. What the hell do those human sound like without the translators?"

"Just… weird. A lot of warbling and grunting, nothing really comprehensible. You know, like it's an alien language."

"Heh heh. You sure the grunting wasn't just because you were-"

Vetra slammed her foot on the brake, sending Drack flying forward straight into the windshield. His head bounced off with a loud thud and a small grunt of pain came from the krogan, which was quickly followed by an amused chuckle.

* * *

From the minute they had arrived at the Exile outpost, Vetra had felt on edge. She and Drack were going straight into a place where most of the people there would rather see them dead than see the deal go through. Assuming these exiles knew who she represented, anyway.

None of this was new to Vetra. Shady deals were just a part of life for her back in the Milky Way, and to an extent they were a part of her life in Andromeda as well.

When they had first approached the exterior of the outpost, they were told to leave their vehicle and hand over any weapons they had on them. Vetra had politely declined that second bit, leading to a small standoff with some guards before Drack threatened to tear out all their spines and use them to floss his teeth. The exiles were quick to let them in after that, but watched them warily.

Vetra and Drack were escorted by an armed guard to the center of the outpost. It wasn't very big, probably housing no more than ten people, but it was big enough to pose a threat to any poor soul that happened to be wandering too far away from the port.

These exiles weren't like Sloan's men - these were real hardened scum that had turned to piracy without any pretense of principle. Doing business with these guys made Vetra sick, but she kept telling herself that she was doing this for Scott. Plus, she wasn't going to find anything _this_ good on the Nexus.

As she and Drack were being escorted, the krogan leaned in closer to her and began to whisper.

"I'm telling you, it would've worked," he said.

"No it wouldn't have," she replied.

"They would've never expected it! Who comes to a deal like this alone, and with a crate that big? Big enough to hold, say… a krogan."

"Need I remind you what happened the last time Liam tried that?"

"What, with the Kett ship? That was fun!" the krogan said with a chuckle.

"I don't call nearly getting sucked out an airlock 'fun,' Drack."

"Bah, that's because you're too soft."

As they approached the center of the camp, Vetra quickly looked over the area. The place was mostly made out of leftover prefabs that nobody else had any use for, with various storage containers scattered about the place, and what passed for an exterior wall was made up of thin scraps of metal.

There was a human male leaning against a crate with scars plastered across his face. No doubt the leader of this group of exiles. She also counted at least seven armed exiles; two salarians up in seperate watchtowers that overlooked the camp's exterior, two humans and a turian sticking close to their leader, plus the human and asari that were already escorting them.

"I thought I told you to come alone," the exile leader said with an annoyed expression. Vetra felt a nudge from Drack, who was no doubt wearing an amused look on his face.

"You seriously think I'm stupid enough to walk right into a deal without backup?" Vetra quickly replied. The exile simply stared back for several seconds before responding.

"Fine. Not like we don't have you outnumbered anyway…"

Vetra could hear a faint chuckle escape from Drack, and had to fight to keep her mandibles from flaring into a smile.

"So, Ms… Tantion. I presume you're ready to transfer those credits my way?" the leader said, and Vetra couldn't help but notice the long pause when he mentioned her alias.

Regardless, she kept her composure and brought up her omni-tool, her right hand hovering over it.

"You show me what I came here for first, and then those credits are yours."

The exile leader looked her up and down several times, a brow raising before a small smirk suddenly appeared on his face.

"Of course, of course, it's just… have we met before? You seem… familiar."

"I do a lot of business in Kadara port. Might've seen each other there once or twice." Vetra said, remaining cool as always under pressure.

"Sure, but… well, I can't help but remember seeing a turian with those very same markings all over her face palling around with humanity's Pathfinder. And if memory continues to suit me well, her name certainly wasn't 'Flanea Tantion', I can tell you that much.

Vetra's fought the urge to have her mandibles flare outwards. The way this guy was delaying the deal put even further on edge than she was before. If this guy had a grudge against Scott or just hated anything to do with the Initiative, this could turn bad fast.

Regardless, Vetra kept herself composed. She barely moved a muscle as the exile spoke.

"Yeah, I think I know who you're talking about. Pretty sure that bitch broke my damn arm back during the revolt." Vetra replied in an attempt to keep her cover.

The exile chuckled in response. "It's cute that you're still trying to deny it, but it's too late. I know who you really are. I also know that the Pathfinder would probably pay one hell of a price if someone had say… captured his little girlfriend?"

Vetra remained still, her hand now hovered over the button to activate her reinforced armor.

"I'd think very carefully about your next move if I were you." Vetra said, voice level. "Because, if you don't, I'll let my krogan friend here tell you how this is going to go."

"First, she's gonna take out her Carnifex and shoot your right between the eyes." Drack said, pointing directly at their leader. "Then, I'm gonna grab these two idiots next to us by their necks and slam their skulls together until they're nothing but mush." The krogan slammed his fists together for additional emphasis, causing the human and asari to slowly shuffle away from them.

Vetra eyes stayed locked on the exile leader, who showed no signs of faltering. The rest of the exiles though, she could tell they didn't like what they were hearing.

"Then, she's gonna fill those little pyjaks up in those watchtowers full of holes," Drack continued. "After that, she'll throw a grenade at the rest of you, and most of you will probably get out the way in time, but you'll be so focussed on getting out of the way that you won't notice me charging your asses. By that point, all it'll take is a few shots from my Ruzad here to take the rest of you out."

Drack stared down the other exiles that were standing nearby their leader, his hand clenched into fists. Vetra continued her staredown with their leader, hoping that Drack had gotten the message through.

The leader looked around at his men, most of whom now had their hands rested firmly on their weapons, with some of them practically shaking in their boots.

"Oh, come on! Really? You're gonna let these two idiots scare you? They're on _our_ turf and we've got _them_ outnumbered," the exile said before turning to face Vetra and Drack, his pistol now raised. "So why don't you drop your weapons and keep your hands where I can-"

In an instant Vetra activated her reinforced shields, and the blue holograms that signaled their activation suddenly formed around her body. Vetra's right hand moved at lightning speed down to her hip and gripped her carnifex, which she aimed and fired at the turian exile before the exile leader could react.

The turian's head snapped back as the shot impacted with a sickening crack, and he promptly fell backwards behind the crate that the exile leader had been leaning on. The rest of the exiles jumped back in surprised, save for their leader who was already starting to unload his pistol into Vetra's shields.

Vetra didn't even bother getting into cover as she holstered her pistol and readied her Cyclone. The remaining Exiles had already begun opening fire on both her and Drack, but they were both by far the hardiest of the Pathfinders crew; Vetra had her shields, and Drack was a krogan.

Just as Drack had prophesied, Vetra went for the guards in the watchtowers first. They could easily fire on anyone in the camp, and had to be taken care of quickly if Vetra wanted to keep her shields up.

The turian was quick to spray down one of the salarians who had managed to fire a shot from his Mantis that grazed just past her. She could hear a ramiliar battle cry coming from Drack as she quickly shifted to aim at the second watchtower. A moment later she heard a sickening crack over the sound of the gunfire.

Vetra briefly turned her head to see that Drack was staying true to his word, but saw that he dropped the two exiles limp bodies well before their heads had been mushified.

By the time the second salarian in the watchtower was down, Vetra's shields had been drained to around sixty percent capacity. They could still take a decent amount of fire before they dropped, but she needed to find cover quickly to give the shields a chance to recharge. No sense taking unnecessary risks.

The exiles had started to spread out, most likely due to Dracks taunting them about Vetra's use of grenades. She didn't mind, as she probably wouldn't have ended up using them even if they had stayed grouped up. Vetra didn't know where the package was at the moment, and didn't want to risk accidentally blowing it up.

Vetra ducked behind a nearby crate just as her shields hit thirty percent, and she took the brief moment of relative safety to steady her breathing and let her shields recharge. They were doing fine so far, but all it takes is one mistake to end up dead.

Once her shields had gone back up to around ninety percent, Vetra peeked out of cover and opened fire on one of the remaining exiles, who was able to duck behind cover before their shields dropped. She also eyed Drack, who now had their shotgun out and was making a beeline straight for more exiles.

Operating on her finely honed instincts, she activated her turbocharge system and sent a barrage of shots flying downrange at the exiles. Now if the exiles wanted to take shots at either of them, they'd have to take a face full of bullets beforehand.

Vetra looked on as Drack lowered his shoulder and rammed a crate that one of the exiles was using as cover. The entire crate rolled over, almost crushing the human in the process. The krogan was quick to fire a slug from his shotgun into the poor bastard as he towered above them.

Just after this, the exile leader stood and began shooting at Drack. The krogans shields were absorbing the hits, but it wouldn't be long before they dropped. Vetra snapped her aim over to them as she advanced, managing to drop his shields and get a shot into his shoulder before he ducked back into cover.

As the leader ducked down, the one other remaining exile peeked out and began shooting at Vetra. She was quick to fire back, dropping them before they could even make a dent in her shields.

The exile leader was now that last one left standing, and he didn't last long. He was barely able to fire a few shots at Drack as the krogan grabbed him by the neck and lifter him into the air. The human grasped his hands around Dracks arm, his face now full of fear.

Vetra deactivated her turbocharge and reinforced shields, confident that they'd taken care of the situation. As Drack held the exile in place, Vetra moved over to him and glared at him with arms crossed.

"Tsk tsk. That wasn't very smart, now was it?" she said. Drack tightened his grip on the human's neck, resulting in heavy gasps for air.

"Easy Drack," Vetra said, waving the krogan down. "He's still got to give us what we came here for."

The exile's eyes went wide in panic, and one of his arms slowly raised and pointed at the crate he had initially been leaning against.

"There..." he said through choked breaths. "Black box... keypad... 0451… please…"

Drack looked over at Vetra, his expression inquisitve..

"Let him go," she said. The krogan released the exile from his grip, who took great gasps of air as they kneeled down on the ground in front of them.

"You're lucky she was here," Drack suddenly said. "I would've just killed you. Why don't you do us all a favor and start running?"

The exile let out several coughs before stumbling to his feet and bolting out of the camp.

"So, that was fun." Drack said, a toothy grin on his face."You sure know how to have a good time!"

Vetra let out a sigh and said, "Quite. Though, I would've prefered it if we hadn't had to shoot up the whole place … but some people don't give you many options, do they?"

The two of them made their way towards the crate in question, opening it up to reveal the black box with the keypad lying on top of various other supplies. Vetra input the code, and the crate opened with a hiss and a rush of cool air and cloudy vapor.

Vetra reached into the crate, and gingerly removed a plastic pouch that was covered in frost and condensate. She gave a happy subharmonic trill as she examined it.

"Alright, he wasn't lying. I'd hate to have to go chase him down if he'd lied to us." Drack said. "So, what's in there anyway?"

Vetra handed the pouch to Drack, who stared at it for a long time. Writing on the pouch read:

 _Cow, 1.86 pounds. Best by 3.25.3328 CE_

"...What the hell is this?"

"It's steak. At least, that's what humans call it apparently." Vetra replied

Drack turned his head up and glared at her.

"You're telling me we did all of this - drove 50 klicks, met with a band of exiles, shot up an outpost … for this!?" Drack's tone bordered on the incredulous. "I thought you said the Pathfinder asked you to get this!"

Vetra quickly took the pouch from Drack.

"Well, he _did_ … more or less," she protested, sheepishly.

Drack stared at Vetra for a long moment in disbelief. Stepping up to Vetra, the Krogan turned his head to the side so that his right eye could stare directly into hers.

"You damn well better make me your kid's godfather after this shit."


	16. Chapter 16: Someone To Lean On

"So, what is this about, Vetra?" Scott asked as the turian took him by the hand and began to drag him from the cargo hold towards their quarters.

"I told you - I have a surprise for you. So shut up and and come on," Vetra replied mirthfully.

"A surprise, huh? That's it? No hints you want to give me?" Scott asked as the doors to the cargo hold closed behind them.

"Nope, though feel free to take a guess if you want," she replied.

"Uh… you got a new set of sheets for the bed?" Scott asked.

"Do you honestly think I'd waste your time with something like that?"

"If they were _really_ nice sheets, sure… did you get me that angaran pistol I was looking at?"

"Please. Talk about impractical. It fires one shot then overheats."

"But have you seen the damage it can do? I saw Jaal take down a Fiend with only a few shots!" Scott said.

"And it took him forever to reload each one, plus I honestly doubt you could hit your shots consistently enough to make it worth it. I'd just stick to the biotics if I were you," Vetra said in jest.

"Killjoy… Oh! You got me a pet pyjak didn't you?"

Vetra let out a laugh. "Yeah, I'd sooner let a geth come aboard before I let one of those little bastards. Plus I don't think you need any more pets. You're lucky I let you keep that little rodent in our room."

"Ah! Not your decision to make! _I'm_ the captain, so if I want another pet on the ship, I'll get one."

"Uh huh. In your dreams, Ryder," Vetra said, her mandibles formed into a small smile as she lead Scott past the entrance to the med bay. With the door to their quarters now in front of them, the turian turned around and faced Scott.

"Alright. Eyes closed."

Scott cocked an eyebrow and let out a chuckle. "Really?"

"Yes really, now come on."

He rolled his eyes at Vetra but nonetheless complied closed his eyes. Standing behind the pathfinder, Vetra placed her hands on both of Ryder's shoulders and moved him towards the door, taking the occasional look down to make sure that he wasn't trying to peek.

She opened the door and lead him inside, eyeing the carefully set dinner table she had set up in their room. Her mandibles twitched briefly into a smile, pleased with herself for managing to keep Scott from finding out about her plan for so long.

Normally Vetra wouldn't try to hide something like this, especially not until the very last minute. For most of Sid's birthdays Vetra had just walked up to her sister and said "Hey, we're going out to eat, I'll pick you up whatever you want on the way back." That had worked fine with Sid - mainly because Vetra never had the time to plan anything elaborate, and Sid was so inquisitive she'd have figured out whatever Vetra had been planning well in advance. But with this dinner date she had planned with Scott, the turian had a rather strong urge to keep things concealed until just the right moment.

It had taken a surprising amount of planning for weeks ahead of time to get everything just the way she wanted. First, she needed to find some time that both her and Scott would be free. That hadn't proven very difficult; there was a lot of downtime when the Tempest was travelling at FTL speeds.

Next, she needed a table and a centerpiece. The coffee table that sat in front of their couch wouldn't do, so Vetra had to haul a circular table aboard from the Nexus all by herself. The centerpiece Vetra had found after asking Suvi for some recommendations, and after around ten minutes of intense and thorough discussion (with herself) about what plant would best "suit the mood," the science officer had finally settled on one she thought that Vetra and Ryder would like - some kind of violet petaled flower native to Sur'Kesh with an unpronounceable name.

The food however, had been by far the most difficult thing to obtain. Vetra had spent more than two hours making trades on the Nexus just so she could get her hands on a dextro version of some human delicacy called ramen … apparently some kind of noodle soup thing. Scott's steak was the only thing she needed to get into a gunfight to obtain though, so that was a plus.

The ramen had actually been rather easy to make, which wasn't what Vetra had been expecting. Usually when something was a delicacy it generally also meant it was a giant pain in the hide to prepare, and cooking had never been one of Vetra's strong suits as Sid would be quick to attest. Thankfully this had been incredibly easy to make. Just stick it in a bowl of hot water, add the noodles, and in ninety seconds it was done - easy! Vetra certainly couldn't complain, as that meant she had more time to prepares Scott's steak.

Cooking it was actually a rather stressful experience. Vetra had never made anything with levo-amino acids before, let alone human food. After taking the necessary sanitary precautions to ensure nothing dextro found its way into the food (as per Lexi's instructions), she had been relieved to find the actually cooking part hadn't been too difficult. It seemed to Vetra that all you needed to do to cook human food was to heat it up for a while. It worked for her ramen, and thankfully it worked for the steak too.

Though, it did end up a little darker than in the pics she had seen. She'd heard that it was important to heat cow to at least 63 degrees, so she'd placed the meat in the oven until she was certain the whole thing was heated to around 75 degrees - after all, the last thing Vetra wanted to do was infect Scott with some parasite!

She'd also read that it was important to sear the exterior of the meat in order to "preserve the moisture and flavor." As Vetra diligently applied the flame of a blowtorch, she had wondered (and not for the first time) exactly why humans found this food so appetizing. But it would all be worth it just to see Scott's eyes light up.

"Vetra?" Scott suddenly asked, tearing her thoughts back into the present.

"Come on, this way," she said, leading him towards the table and stopping him in front of his chair.

"Alright, now sit," Vetra said. She moved Scott's arm so that he was touching that back of the chair.

"Okay, this definitely wasn't here this morning. Been redecorating the place?" Scott asked.

"Only a little. You'll see," she said. "Now just be careful to watch your-"

"Ouch!" Scott yelped as his leg slammed into the chair.

"-shins," Vetra paused briefly before lightly pushing down on his shoulders to make him sit down. Once he was seated, Vetra moved to the side and checked over everything one last time.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Scott asked with a sigh.

"Hold on, just a little more…" Vetra said, making a slight adjustment to the centerpiece. She quickly looked over the rest of the table. Everything was in place, all she needed to do now was let Scott see it.

"Good. Open."

Vetra did her best to hold back a smile as Ryder's eyes opened. He briefly scanned the table before focusing his gaze on the plate in front of him. His eyes went wide.

"Surprise!" she said, causing Scott to look briefly between her and the food. He looked shocked. This probably wasn't what he was expecting, which was exactly what Vetra wanted.

"This… this is wonderful!" he said, his smile now beaming at her. "When did you do all… this?"

"I've been planning it for awhile now. It wasn't easy to get all this together, but… you're worth it." she said, briefly resting her hand on Scott's shoulder and giving a light squeeze.

"I made it myself. It's steak," Vetra said, eyeing the charred lump of meat on the table. "Er, cow. Whatever it is you humans call it."

"Earth cow?" Scott asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"It just said cow on the packet ... Does it matter?" Vetra asked, the slightest tinge of worry creeping into her subharmonics.

Scott stared down at the food in front of him with his smile now looking slightly plastered on.

"No! No, not at all… It looks… delicious! I love cow!" He said, looking at Vetra with a rather forced smile before turning back to the steak. "I'm… I'm just, uh - just gonna take time to savor this!"

Vetra's mandibles twitched. This didn't seem like it was going well.

Scotts awkwardly reached for the utensils on the table while occasionally glancing towards Vetra. He began to try to cut the meat, only to find that the knife was unable to slice into the leather like exterior of the slab of "steak."

Vetra's shoulders dropped, and she felt for a moment like she were standing in a rapidly descending elevator. Scott was trying to be nice, but she saw right through it - she'd messed it up.

Scott continued his cutting, gradually putting more and more force into it. Vetra spoke up when she saw the flicker of a biotic field - _that_ much force was too much.

"You don't have to be nice about it, Scott. I made it wrong," Vetra said, head lowered as she moved across the table to slump into the chair she had set up for herself.

"No, Vetra It's fine, really!" It usually takes a bit of elbow grease to get into anyway," he said, increasing the intensity of his cutting.

"Scott…" Vetra said, giving him a pleading look from across the table. He gave her a nod and put his utensils down.

"Vetra, this is great, really. But you didn't have to."

"I know, but… I wanted to do something special for you. As thanks."

"Thanks? For what?"

"For… everything. Letting me on the crew, rescuing Sid, for caring…"

"Vetra…"

"No, I mean it. You _actually_ care. I haven't had a lot of people in my life that I can say that about with certainty. Mom certainly never did and Dad was never around to show it. But you really care. About my sister, and about me. For _me_ , not because you can get something out of me..."

Vetra paused for a moment, her voice catching in her throat as she worked up the courage to speak again.

"I love you, alright?" she said.

Scott's eyes went wide. Throughout their courtship, they'd danced around the word, coming right up to the edge but never quite jumping. For her part, Vetra had known how deeply she felt about Scott for a long time, but thinking something and voicing something were two entirely different things. Especially when it came to something like this.

"I just… I didn't want to ruin it… I thought…" She paused, thinking over what to say. "I thought if I could just get this right, get it perfect, then maybe I could make it up to you. And I could've asked someone else but I wanted to do it myself. Turns out I couldn't even make dinner." Vetra grumbled, letting her head hang low.

"Hey," Scott said after a brief silence, getting up from his chair and moving over to her. "This _was_ perfect."

Vetra responded with a confused look and a raised brow plate. What was he talking about?

"Okay, yes, you burnt the steak a little. So what? It's gonna take a lot more than a poorly made dinner to ruin what we've got going here. The point is you went to the trouble of setting all this up just because you wanted to do something for me."

"Yeah, but the dinner is still ruined," she grumbled.

"And like I said, so what? Only we'll know about it. If any of the crew asks, I'll tell them it was delicious."

"Thanks," Vetra said, her mandibles now curved into a turian smile. "It's just… you have no idea how much of a pain it was to get all this together."

"I'm sure it was," he said, leaning forward so that the two of them were at eye level. "But that just proves my point. The lengths to which you'll go for something, for someone you care about? That's amazing. _You're_ amazing. You're resourceful, and a survivor. You've always got my back when I need it. That's why I wanted to be with you, not because of things like this," Scott nodded his head towards the table before his hand reached out and grasped her own. "Granted, a steak dinner would've actually been pretty nice, but I don't love you for your cooking skills. I love you because you're _you_. And there's nobody else like you out there, not in the Milky Way or Andromeda."

Vetra tried to formulate a response, she really did. But how was she supposed to respond to that admission? She was never very good with anything too mushy-feely, but this was Scott Ryder she was talking to here. This human was the one person she loved more than anyone else in _any_ galaxy. If there was anyone she could talk to, it was him.

But instead of talking, she lunged forward, her hard lip plates meeting his soft ones in an embrace that threw Scott off guard. He was quick to adjust however, wrapping his arms around her as their tongues began to dance around each other.

Soon they broke their embrace, each of them breathing heavily and staring straight into the other's eyes.

"So… I take it we're not going to have dinner anymore?" Scott said with a small smirk.

"Nope," Vetra replied, her subharmonics laced in lust as she moved in for another embrace.

* * *

Although Scott had fallen asleep close to an hour ago, Vetra still found herself lying in bed awake, content to be alone with her thoughts

Her arms were wrapped around Scott from behind, with one of her hands gently grazing over the bite mark he had gained from their recent activity. It wasn't very deep thankfully and there had been very little blood to go along with it.

Somehow it worked - a turian and a human. Vetra had heard of stranger pairings, of course, but she and Scott made it work. They were the perfect pair for each other. Always by each other's side, and always having the other's back when they needed it.

All her life Vetra had been on her own, doing her damndest to look after Sid and shield her from the worst that life in the galaxy threw at them. Omega, mercenary work, raising Sid all on her own. The galaxy had thrown hell at her and she'd pushed back and came out stronger because of it. But the fact remained that besides Sid, Vetra never had anyone else in her life that she cared for.

She hadn't come to Andromeda looking for a mate - in her heart, Vetra knew that she couldn't permit herself the luxury, nor did she have much faith in the idea of romance anyway. She'd dragged her kid sister across the universe for a fresh start, determined to forge a future where maybe Sid could look to having a mate, a family.

And when she'd met Ryder, there was no ceremony. No chorus of angels, or whatever cliches SAM had expected. She just saw a dependable Pathfinder who was there for his crew when they needed him most, and who went out of his way to make sure they had everything they needed. She admired this quality in him, and found it rather surprising how quickly they had become friends. But that's all she saw the two of them as for a long while. Just friends.

But gradually, all that changed. The time they had spent together both on and off the battlefield only strengthened the bond they had. A bond that Vetra never had with _anyone_ before, let alone a human. It took quite some time, but eventually she realized that there was nobody else in the universe that she cared for more than Scott.

Falling in love had been quiet.

Vetra listened to the soft, rhythmic sound of her mate's breathing. In and out. In and out.

She wasn't alone. Not anymore, and - she realized - she never would be again. She had Scott, her Pathfinder, the man she loved.

Finally, she'd found someone to lean on.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

I sincerely hope you all enjoyed reading through this. Andromeda ended up being one of my favorite games from last year, and writing this ended up being a ton of fun.

And a huge thanks to WhatABummer for all his help with this story. He was a tremendous help with editing and spitballing ideas off of.

Here's to hoping that we'll eventually see more from the gang in the Andromeda galaxy. Despite its many flaws, I considered it to be a very underrated experience.


End file.
